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AUSTRALIAN
Pioneers ? Reminiscences
(ILLUSTRATED),
TOGETHER WITH PORTRAITS OF SOME OF THE
FOUNDERS OF AUSTRALIA.
BY THE LATE
NEHEMIAH BARTLEY.
Edited r,Y J. J. KNIGHT.
PRICE TWELVE SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE.
GORDON AND GOTCH,
(For the Executrix and Children),
;!tU-ii5baur.
stack
Annex
DO
PREFACE. SSy
IfS-TfERE it not for- prescribed custom and the circum-
|ii)l|j stances under wliich this volume has been published,
"Australian Pioneers and Reminiscences" would probably
have been ushered in without further introduction than that
which its title page bears. These circumstances, while
lending a melancholy interest to the book, appear to me to
also make a preface necessary.
The work was started by Mr. Bartley with a laudable
endeavour to add to the sparse Australian literature a feAv
further facts concerning the pioneering period, and in fulfil-
ment of a promise made, when he issued his earlier book, that
at some future time he would record the reminiscences of
forty years of that new and vivid life which came to Australia
with tlie gold discovery. But man proposed ; God disposed ;
and the hand which undertook this task was stilled by the
levelling hand of Death, ere it could be completed.
Mr. Bartley himself requires no introduction. Added to
his qualifications as a litterateur, he was a resident of the
four colonies and possessed peculiar and remarkable advan-
tages for the work in which he had embarked. Extensive
travel enabled him to visit many scenes too far removed to
permit of the ordinary eye viewing them.
On the very day on whicii Death overtook him with awful
suddenness, he was engaged in furthering this publication.
It was fortunate that he had collected his material ; all
11^9938
that remained to be done was to arrange it. It was this
duty which was allotted to me. This change has necessarily
caused delay, but this notwithstanding, I feel confident
that the old saw, " Better late than never " will be the
verdict when subscribers shall have perused its pages.
It is, perhaps, necessary to emphasize the fact that, except
in the matter of arrangement, and a few reminiscences con-
tributed by friends and considered to be of such historical
value to be worthy of inclusion, tlie work is wholly Mr.
Bartley's. His style has been maintained, and only such
pliotographs and pictures as were found among his papers
and as were identifiable have been used.
It is to be hoped therefore, that, beyond the permanent
value it may have, " Australian Pioneers and Reminis-
cences " will have the additional recommendation of personal
interest.
As has been stated, works which enable us to look into
the shadowy past — to realise the scenes and difiiculties
through which the pioneers of this great Continent lived and
worked — and to learn the characteristics of Australian life
generally, in its earlier stages, are not too plentiful ; and if
this last eftbrt of a patriotic and zealous colonist adds but
one crumb to future's feast, any tardiness in its issue and
any little shortcomings that may be detected ought to be
easy of forgiveness.
J. J. Knight.
Brisbane, 189h'.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.— Half a (Jentmy Back— The First Australian
"Inflation" — Men and Matters in Sydney — A Review
—The Proud Forefatliers of "Swell" Sydney — Old
Camperdown — Memories of the Past — A Countrified
Place — Sociability at Darling Point — Sunday Ser-
vices at St. Mark's — The Interim Darkness Before the
Dawn —"Caste"' Superiority — Sydney's Quaint
Suburbs 1—20
CHAPTER II.— New-born Lu.Kury — Opening up "Way
Back " — Pioneers on the Lower Murrumbidgee and
Lachlan — Settlement on the Darling — Overlanding —
Norbury, the Tracker — On the Murrumbidgee — A
Martinet at Whist — Cliess and Draughts — Naviga-
tion of the ^Murray — Phelj^s' of Canally — The Old
Squatting Men — Captain Cadell -- The " Lady
Augusta'" — Tyson Bros, on the Lachlan — A Risky
Undertaking — Old Melbourne — Men and Matters —
The Cold Era— New Melbourne 21 --- 39
CHAPTER III — Early Settlers on the Clarence — Richard
(Jraig's Discovei'y — Dr. Doljie's Days — Dr. Lang's
Higldand Immigrants — A Pathetic Incident — First
Attempts at Sugar Making -Initial Difficulties —
Crude Plants — Tlie French Baron's Experiments —
Scenes of Older Sydney — Memories of the Past —
vSydney Banks and Banking — A Few Figures — The
Crumbling of the Big Institutions — The Cobra and
White Ant of Finance 40—66
CHAPTER IV.— The Curtain of Time drawn back— Early
Men of Mark — Their Deeds of History — Major-
(ieneral Macquarie — His Period of (Governorship —
William Forster — A Literary Legislator — A Marked
Career — Edward Deas-Thomson — William (jharles
Wentworth — The Father of the Constitution ... 67 — 88
VI. CONTKNTS.
I'AGE
CHAPTER v. — Early Men of (ieniiis and Powei— The
List Continued — .Sir Charles Cowper — The Anti-
Transportation Battle — Sir Terence Anbrey Murray
— The Struggle for Popular Rights — Sir James
Martin — A Victim to Prejudice — A Pioneer of Pro-
tection — Captain Robert Johnston, R.N. — Hon.
Robert Towns — Tlionias SutclifFe Mort — Eaidiest
Meat Freezing Effort — "There shall be no more
Waste !" 89-112
(JHAPTER VI.— George Suttor— Early Sydney— Despotic
Days — Suttor's Vain Appeal for Justice — Sir Francis
Forbes — A Heavy Indictment — The Liberty of the
Press Endangered — A Just Tribute — Sir John
Robertson — Free Selection Before Survey — Sir John
Hay — An Opponent to Sir John Robertson's I^and Act llo — 135
CHAPTER VIL— Early Men of Cenius and Power— The
List ('ontinued — Dr. Lang — A Blow to Convictisni —
Dr. Lang as a Reformer -The Fight for Freedom —
Dr. Richard L. Jenkins — The Education of the
Masses — William Cox — The Track over the Blue
Mountains — Hon Henry Dangar — ]Myall Creek —
Hon. James \Vhite- Hon. David Jones — Alexander
Berry — William H. Hovell — Hon. Henry Mort ... 13G — 165
CHAPTER VIII— The Youngest Colony— Early Days of
Queensland —The Western ^len — The First Squatters
— The Leslies — The Condaniine, ]\lclntyre and Weir
Rivers — The Incursions of the Blacks — A Western
Notable — Paddy Macinnon — William Miles — The
Deai'th of Labour — Rough Times— An Early Elec-
tion — A Risky Undei'taking — Beck and Brown ... 166 — 187
CHAPTER IX.— North Queen,sland Legends and Myths
— A Daring " Duti'er " — The Gulf (Jountrj^ — A Run-
Hunting Expedition — Breaking in a " Brombie " —
A Terror to Drovers — An Abandoned Track — Back
to the Early Forties — A Curious Mistake — Major
Gox-man — Patrick Leslie — D. C. McConnel — The
First Squattei- on the Brisbane — A Burnett Pioneer
—"Blood for Blood" 188—208
CHAPTER X. — Early (j»ueenslanders — The Surviving Few
— Once More the Roll Call — Some of the Old Hands
— John Petrie — George Thorne — Robert Little —
Frederic Bigge — T. L. Murray-Prior — Sir Joshua P.
Bell — Edwin Norris — James Warner — Robert
Douglas — Simeon Lord — Captain Taylor Winship —
James S. Mitchell 209-226
CONTENTS. A'll.
PAGE
CHAPTER XI.— The Roll Call— Old Time Queenslamlers
— Additions to the List — Richard F. Phelaii — Walter
Scott — H. P. Fox — Richard S. W^arrj^ — George
Harris — W. .J. Munce — Thomas Lade — Robert Cribb
— Henry .Jordan — T. B. Stephens — A New Genera-
tion 2'27— 239
CHAPTER XII. — The Capital of Queensland — Brisbane-
Its Features and Characteristics — The Kirst .Survey
— Sir George Gipps — Old Day Ocean Travelling —
Amusing Incidents — McScotty"s Triumph — Road
Making Extraordinary — Pliilip D. Vigers — Jovial
Evenings — Early Sugar Days — South Brisbane — Sea
Sick Travellers — The Queensland Club — Its Founders
— The Financial Crisis of '66 — How it all Happened . . . 240—261
CHAPTER XIII.— Life by the Sea Shore— Early Sandgate
— My First Visit — What the Wild \A'aves were Say-
ing — An Appreciable Soul — (tooiI Company — Floods
in the Brisbane — A Few Records — Tlie Weather and
tlie Seasons — Drought and Its Recurrence — Mag-
nificent Queensland ... ... ... ... ...262 — 277
CHAPTER XIV.— The Lslunds— At Tahiti — Eimeo —
Papiete — A Mountain Climli —A Hearty Welcome —
Ladrone Island ^^'onders — Among the Lonely Islets
— Racatu — Hachin — ]3ora Born — Gems of the South
Pacific — The ^lai-quesas — Female Types — The Inter-
national Patrol — The Mountains of Raiatea — Fear
Dispelled — Aripah's Farewell — A Story .. ...278 — 302
STRAY PAPERS 303—418
INDEX 419—421
■*-^^#^-*"-
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Portraits of the Members of the first Legishxtive Assembly of
N. S. Wales under the Electoral Reform Act of 185S . . . Frontispiece
Portraits of W. C. ^Ventworth, E. Deas-Thomsoii, Major-General
L. Macquarie, Sir John Hay, Sir Charles Cowper ... ... 64
Portraits of Hon. Wm. Forster, Sir Francis Forbes, Sir Jame.s
Martin, Sir Jolin Robertson, Sir Terence A. Mnrray ... 96
Portraits of Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, Dr. John D. Lang, Capt.
Robert Johnston, George Siittor, Dr. Richard L. Jenkins... 112
Portraits of Hon. David Jones, Hon. James White, Hon. John
Fairfax, Hon. Henry Mort, (Japt. O'Reilly 144
Portraits of Hon. Alex. Berry, J. Lansdale, W. H. AViseman,
X. V. Morrisset, W. H. Ho veil 160
Portraits of T. B. Stephens, Hon. R. U. W. Herbert, Sir Maurice
O'Connell, Samuel Brown, John Beck... ... ... ... 176
Portraits of Hon. Louis Hope, Judge Lutwyche, J. I'urner,
Colonel Sandeman, R. Little, Sir Joshua Peter Bell ... 192
Portraits of Robert Cribb, T. L. Murray-Prior, Colonel Gray,
James Warner, John Petrie ... ... ... ... ... 208
Portraits of Hon. A. Macalister, Hc)n. John Douglas, Sir Charles
Lilley, Hon. James Taylor, Sir A. Hodgson ... ... ... 224
Portraits of Christopher Rolleston, Sir A. H. Palmer, G. E.
Dalrymple, Matthew Goggs, W. Bowman, Sir R. R. Mac-
kenzie ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 240
Portraits of Capt. John Mackay, Dr. Dorsey, F. Bigge, T. de
Lacy Moffat, Hon. R. Towns " 256
Off the Islands 273
.-I Sheltered Bay 278
Women of Tahiti 288
.Samoan Types ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .S05
Interior of Chillagoe Cave, N. Queensland ... ... ... 320
On the Burdekin .336
A Bit of Old Brisbane 352
A Queensland Squattage ... ... ... ... ... ... 368
The Glasshouse Mountains — Beerwali ... ... ... ... 384
,, ,, Ngungun — Crook Neck — Ti))bt'roowoccum ... 400
A Marquesan Maiden ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 416
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CHAPTER I.
Half-a-Century Back — The First Australian " Inflation ' —
Men and Matters in Sydney — A Review — The Proud
Forefathers of "Swell" Sydney — Old Camperdown —
Memories of the Past — A Countrified Place — Sociability
AT Darling Point — Sunday Services at St. Mark's — The
Interim Darkness Before the Dawn— " Caste " Superi-
ority — Sydney's Quaint Suburp,s.
USTRALIA was young in 1842. Even
Sydney was juvenile ; while, as for Port
Phillip, New Zealand, and IMoreton Bay, they
were simply babies. It was- the season of
j^the first Australian "inflation," just before
the first great Australian collapse. There have
been many a " boom " and many a crisis since
then, but '42 and '43 saw the first of the series.
Let us take a glance at men and matters in Sydney at the
date when London Punch and Charles Dickens were first
coming into public notice, when the French were intriguing
in Tahiti, and Pritchard was the much ill-used English
consul there, when England and the United States had a
"tiff" and the Prince of Wales was a baby in arms. No
P. and O. steamers or Orient liners, then, in Port Jackson,
but the gentle grandmothers of the pretty girls of the haut
ton, who now " mash " the ofiicers and male passengers on
the street-like deck of the 7000-ton " boat," as they recline
gracefully on the lounging chairs in the promenade bridge
— endured all the martyxxlom of seasickness (with the
B
2 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
costumes and coquetry left out) on board the little Emma,
the fashionahle bi'ig, of some 200 tons, which then traded
to Adelaide and Hobart, under the command first of Captain
Sproule and afterwards of Captain R. F. Pockley ; and the
" Waterlily " (in after days well known in the 'Fi'isco trade of
'49 and '50) sailed, to the Derwent only, from Sydney.
Moreton Bay was accommodated with the iron steamship
'' Shamrock," with her "powerful" (80-horse) engines ("power-
ful," that is, by the side of the old " Billy the Fourth " of
Wollongong fame), and sent as a favour to Brisbane by the
Hunter River Company, then under the management of
Francis Clarke. The schooner " Edward," Captain Cham-
bers, used, in 1842, to do her famous "ninety-hour" trips
to the bar of the Brisbane River from Sydney.
The only ports in New Zealand which were, fifty years
ago, favoured with the Sydney trade were Port Nicholson,
Auckland, and the Bay of Islands, and for those places the
schooner "Catherine," the brig "William Fulcher," and the
barques "Amwell" and "Achilles" were regularly sent by Isaac
Simmons, Ranulph Dacre, J. B. Metcalfe, or William Tucker.
Sometimes the route included the Bay of Islands and Tahiti
only ; and sometimes Valparaiso was also included in the
trip. The "Julia" and the "Jane Geordie," from R. Jones's
wharf, were in the trade too. There must have been much
settlement going on then in New Zealand, for the traders
to that place were of the same tonnage as the London wool
ships of 1842. Sydney used but little sugar then, and the
" Charlotte," brig, of a modest 96 tons burden, was the
Mauritius trader.
The Rev. Ralph Mansfield was then, and for many a long
year afterwards, secretary to the Gas Company. The Rev.
Robert Allwood used to lecture for Church of England
purposes; and the legal firm which, in 1852, was Thurlow,
Dick, and Brown was, ten years earlier. Chambers and
FIFTY YEARS AGO. d
Thurlow. Wright's (the pioneer) bi'ewery was running in
opposition to Newnham and Tooth's before Robert and
Edwin Tooth came from England in 1843 to assume com-
mand of affairs. Eldridge kept a chemist's shop in King-
street ; but was tliis the Ambrose Eldridge, of Brisbane, in
after years 1 Binnie, the saddler, was then in Parramatta.
T. and M. Woolley, of George-street and the Glebe, sold
sheep-shears and chaff-cutters, while the fashionable drapers
were Pite and Preston, Joseph Thompson, sen., David Jones,
and Robert Bourne (father-in-law of George Raff, of Bris-
bane, and the erstwhile missionary for the Congregational
Union to Raiatea and the Society Group in 1822). Most
of them were in Pitt-street, where Sydney drapers and
carpet men still do mostly congregate. In 1842 R. Camp-
bell, jun., and Co. were general merchants in Bligh-street,
Sydney ; for R. Campbell, sen,, was of the 179.5 era in that
town ; they sold tea, rice, pickles, spirits, iron, and hemp
goods. John Sands was a stationer in George-street ; R.
and T. Coveny sold V.D. land produce ; MacHattie was then
(even as ten years later) a Aery prominent name and house-
hold word in Bathurst ; and J. T. Armitage and Co. bought
wool at the salt-water end of King-street. Richard Rogers
was the imperial ordnance storekeeper for New South Wales,
and the Australian Club (in want of repairs and alterations
even then) was situate in Bent-street even as it was fifty
years later. The " boom " had not in 1842 ended in a crisis,
for £30 a year was offered for a good female cook at
■" Linthorpe," Newtown, despite a plentiful supply of the
convict article in the market. The Sydney and Calcutta firm,
which was afterwards Thacker, Daniell, and Co., Th acker,
Spink and Co., was, in 1842, Thacker, Mason, and Co.
James Pye lived at Parramatta, and the firm of Cooper and
Holt flourished. Old Walter Gray, of Ipswich, Moreton
Bay, in 1854, was, in 1842, an accountant in George-street,
4 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
opposite the Commercial Bank. The steamer " Maitland "
traded to Port Macqnarie, and, amongst other passengers,
carried, in 1842, Mr. Tozer, an ancestor of the Queensland
Colonial Secretary of fifty years later. Her cargo was
maize and salt beef in tierces.
The Legislative Council of the period consisted of the
Governor, Sir George Gipps, the Bishop, the Senior Military
Officer, the Colonial Secretary, Attorney-General, Collector
of Customs, Auditor-General, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Berry, Mr.
R. Jones, Mr. Blaxland, Mr. Hannibal Macarthur, and Sir
John Jamison, and they voted away the colony's money in
this fashion : — The Governor, £.5,000 ; private secretary,
£300 ; aide-de-camp, 9s. 6d. per day and forage ; Clerk of
the Executive and Legislative Councils, £600 ; Colonial
Secretary, £1500 a year, and his chief clerk £500 ; Colonial
Treasurer, £1000 ; Auditor-General, £650 ; Collector of
Customs, £1000; the rent of the Custom-house was £250
first-class clerks got £400, second-class £240 to £300
occasional clerks 6s. per day to make out deeds of grant
&c. ; Postmaster-General, £650 ; Landing Surveyor, £400
Colonial Storekeeper, £200 ; Government Printer, £300
the museum got £200 a year ; lighthouse-keeper, South
Head, £80 per annum and £13 13s. for rations ; five
" prisoner" assistants got clothed and fed for Is. a day
each — £91 5s. a year for the lot; while the lighthouse
horse and his shoes cost £60 a year !
The Law Courts sat as usual in Sydney in 1842, and Mr.
Broadhurst pleaded before " the Chief " when Burdekin
sued Lyons or Barker. Amongst the barristers in court
were Darvall, Windeyer, Foster, and Fishei'. The Mort
and Co., the Richardson and Wrench, the L. E. Threlkeld,
the W. Dean and Co., the Purkiss and Lambert, the Frith
and Payten of 1860 " were not " in 1842, but their places
were anticipated by Foss. Was it he who bought the
FIFTY YEARS AGO. 5
chemist's business from Tawell, the Quaker murderer 1
Foss and Lloyd used to sell wine, cheese, flannel, and pork
by auction, while Moore and Heydon were more in the
pastoral line. Stubbs, the elder, was the George Robins of
the earlier Sydney land booms ; while Cornelius Prout (the
under sheriflf in 1842, and many a year after that) did,
officially, a larger general auction business perhaps than any
of them. Samuel Hebblewhite was the importer of American
goods, ash oars, and rocking chairs in 1842 even as in 1860.
Thomas A gars (afterwards Agars and Stabler) was a stock
and station agent, and the Sydney Sugar Company had
their works at Canterbury under W. Knox Child, the
manager. Moflitt (the millionaire) had his modest book-
shop in Pitt-street then. Isaac Simmons and Sam Lyons
were also leading auctioneers in 1842, while Mr. Blacknian
occupied the place in the real estate market which Richard-
son and Wrench now do. " Cap-a-Pie," the sire of so many
Australian racehorses, had just been advertised by Mr.
Scott, of Glendon, on the Hunter, imported two years before
by Mr. Kater, bred by Mr. Poyntz in 1837, and sired by
The Colonel out of sister to Cactus. Mr. Byrnes, the
auctioneer, of Parramatta, advertised the estate of Major
Wentwoi'th at Toongabbee — fifty eligible lots of 30 acres
each, suitable for nurserymen, and away from the " noise
and bustle" of Sydney, in 1842.
At this very same time Sir Robert Peel was moving in
the Imperial Parliament for his " sliding scale " on imported
wheat, the duty to be 20s., when the market price was 50s.
per quarter and gradually decreasing to zero, when the
price (from scarcity) rose to 74s. The baronet's argument
was, that a great country like England should be self-
supporting in wheat and should not encourage foreign grain
unless from dire necessity. His speech was closely criticised
by Lord John Russell and Richard Cobden, the latter of
b AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
whom remarked, of Peel, that it was hopeless to expect
"grapes from thorns or figs from thistles," and who con-
verted Sir Robert, three years later, to his freetrade views.
People who nowadays are "squeamish" over the well-fed,
well-treated kanaka labourer on Queensland plantations-
should have read Abram Polack's or Sam Lyons's advertise-
ments of farms for sale fifty years ago near Sydney, where
it was announced that so many convicts would remain on,
and go with, the property to the new purchaser. It sounds
a bit chattel and slave-like to our modern ears. Men,
transported for murdering their wives, acted as nursemaids
(pour faute de mieux) to tender little girls in arms, and
were kinder than the female convict would have been. The
Botany property of the then deceased Simeon Lord was up
for sale in 1842. Imported wine was auctioned in pipes,
and the bottled beer wtis by Dunbar, Byass, and Marzetti,^
for Foster and Guinness had not travelled to Australia then.
The girls danced in Sydney fifty years ago, and wore " kid
operas " and mock pearl coronets ; and at an auction room
next the (old) Bank of New South Wales eleven boxes of
artificial flowers and wreaths were passed to the highest
bidder on the 10th August, 1842.
Enterprise and settlement were setting in strongly then
to New Zealand, and the Raphaels and the Nathans and
the Barnetts lielped to swell the passenger lists from Port
Jackson to Port Nicholson. The larger ships which came
out to Sydney in those days wei'e unable to fill up with wool
out of the season, and being too big even for the summer
shipments were accustomed to go by the Barrier Reef and
the Raines Island Passage to Java, there to load with rice,
etc., for London. A ship of 700 or 800 tons could " make
a big hole" in the entire wool clip of Sydney in 1840, or
of Melbourne in 1850.
But the sheep have increased since then and (more's the
FIFTY YEARS AGO. 7
pity) so also have the rabbits. The curator of the Botanic
Gardens, Sydney, got £140 salary fifty years ago his
overseer 3s. per day, and thirty convicts, who did the work,
were all fed and clothed for £430 per annum. The harbour
master got £300 a year, and most of his subordinates were
convicts, rationed and clothed and foraged at the stereotyped
Is. a day each, and allowed 2d. a day extra in lieu of tea,
sugar, and tobacco for the thirty-two men on the stafi". The
floating light at the " Sow and Pigs " was " run " by a
superintendent and four sailors at £191 12s. 6d. a year
for the lot (rations, fuel, and light extra), while oil for the
light alone absorbed £220 a year. HarV)our-masters and
pilots were run cheaply then ; the " screw " at Newcastle
was £100, with £40 allowed yearly for coals for the
" beacon " ; Port Macquarie, £75 ; while at WoUongong
and Brisbane Water they were paid 5s. a day each.
Kemp and Fairfax published and owned the Sydney
Morning Herald then, and got 6d. a copy for their paper,
and I can, in my mind's eye, still see old Charles Kemp and
his wife in their carriage, but with no children, bowed to
and saluted as they drove about South-west Sydney ; he,
short, stout, and with a peculiarity in one eye. They rest
now in the old Camperdown cemetery, whei'e it looks out
on the distant Parramatta hills, and where also x'epose the
Macleays, the Dumaresqs, the O'Connells, and others of the
" upper ten " of bygone Sydney, a list far too numerous
here to catalogue, beyond making the remark that Camper-
down shares, with St. Jude's at Randwick, the honour of
being the spot where
The proud forefathers of " swell " Sydney sleep.
Let us stroll through this once favourite burying-place of
the old folk of Sydney ; where lie some of Sydney's greatest.
A solitude in the heart of business, it is situated but a short
8 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
distance from the Newtown railway station, and a few
minutes' walk down a lane-like street brings us to St.
Stephen's Church, which though of a later date than the
cemetery itself stands within its precincts. Unlatch the
wicket gate and enter the field of graves. It is thickly
sown. Flat stones and nameless mounds lie huddled with
scarce a semblance of sectional order among the rank-growing
grass. High and lowly lie side by side : for Death is the
great leveller of all. Headstones, crosses, urns, uncouth
attempts at sculptured figures, mossy blocks, hideous and
shapeless ; monuments of lighter and more elegant design
and of every conceivable fashion crowd round on all .sides.
Noteworthy many of them — what memories they do recall !
Near the entrance a large white slab, rail-protected and
carefully preserved, covers the remains of Sir Thomas Living-
stone Mitchell, surveyor and explorer. Dying at Carthona,
Darling Point, 4th October, 1855, he was buried here, with
military honours, on the 9th. A stirring and a changeful life
was his ! The tumult of Badajos and Ciudad Rodrigo gave
place to the stillness of Australian forests, and the abilities
that had been employed in furthering the art of war, were
diverted to the nobler work of assisting to open up the great
south continent to settlement and civilisation. Higher up
is the tomb of Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell, who, if his
services to the country were less distinguished than those of
Mitchell, was still a prominent personage in early colonial
society. Known as an officer signalised in his profession,
O'Connell arrived in Sydney with Macquarie in December,
1809, as Colonel of the 73rd, and Lieutenant Governor of
the Territoiy, and in May following married Mrs. Putland,
the widowed daughter of e.K-Governor Bligh, and .somewhat
famous in connection with the episode of his arrest. Accom-
panying the 73rd, in 1814, to Ceylon, O'Connell returned
to the colony in 1838, and was appointed Commander of
OLD CAMPERDOWN. 9
the Forces in New South Wales, a post he occupied until
1847. Military display on a small scale was a feature of
old Sydney, and women entering into years now, are fond
of recalling the school-girl delight they took in watching the
martial figure of Sir Maurice at the reviews so frequently
held in the Domain. Relieved by General Wynyard, he
was preparing to return to England, when he died in May,
1848, at his house in Darlinghurst, on the day that had
been fixed for his sailing by the "Medway." He had taken
little part in politics, but the concern of the public for his
death showed how deep the sense of his private worth was
rooted in the heart of the community. His body, interred
elsewhere in 1848, was afterwards removed hither. The
inscription on the stone — cruciform, resting on a low plat-
form — is short and simple.
A
CI GIT.
Lieutenant-General Sir Maurice O'Connell, H.M. 80th Regiment
of Foot, K.C.H.
Died May 2.5th, 1818.
No recording of his battles, no lauding of his virtues — only
underneath tlie words.
Until The Day Break And The
Shadows Flee Away.
So the old soldier rests. Hard by, "Two Sorrowing
Friends " commemorate Lieut.-Colonel Charles Lewis, also
of Her Majesty's 80th Regiment. From the Peninsula to
Sobraon he had "served his country gallantly and faithfully
for 40 years." Below O'Connell's monument is one to Sir
James Everard Howe, "captain of the "Calliope," and senior
officer of the Australian Squadron." (Died 1855, aged 55).
Beside it is a grave covered with an overgrowth of slovenly
herbage, through which a pale rose feebly struggles. The
stone is carved at top with anchor, trident, and other
10 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
nautical emblems, and, holding back the long coarse grass
that has spread across the face, we read that William Ward
Harvey, R.N., of the ship "Torch," and son of an English
clergyman, was drowned off Sydney by the upsetting of the
Torch's cutter on the 24th December, 1853, ''aged nearly
20 years," " universally beloved," and "an officer of great
promise." We know nothing of his friends save what the
tombstone tells, yet one sadly thinks how loving thoughts
of the absent lad may have gone out that Christmas season
from the distant vicarage home, and no premonition of the
calamity that had befallen have clouded its Christmas cheer.
Not far off sleeps another sailor, Thomas Raine, captain of
the "Surry," a merchant vessel of old colonial days. It was.
from the Surry's deck that Macquarie, in 1822, made his
last farewells to the entliusiastic colonists who thronged to
bid him God speed on his voyage. An ivy-wreathed stone
cross is inscribed to Edward Broadhurst, father of the Bar of
New South Wales ; and there is a cenotaph to Dr. Woolley,
who perished in the "London." Mrs. Broughton, wife of the
first Australian Bishop, dying on Sunday, Uie 16th Sep-
tembei% 1849, was carried to her burial liere, four days
later, amidst sincere and general mourning. Her death
came with the shock of a painful surprise. While the
serious nature of her own illness had l)een unsuspected, her
husband was lying at the point of death ; and when the
muffled bells tolled on the night of the 16th from the
steeple of St. James', no doubt of the event was felt, and
men meeting each other in the morning spoke of the dead
bishop, little dreaming that it was his devoted wife who
had passed away. The bishop himself recovered for the
time, and returned to England, where he subsequently died.
The visitor may chance to stumble over a stone raised over
two children of Sir William Denison, 11th Governor of New
South Wales, and here, indeed, did time avail for tlie
OLD CAMPEKDOWN. 11
research, would be found the names of many intimately
associated with the affairs and progress of the colony.
Funeral offerings testify to the remembrance of the living.
A moment, parenthetically, we pause. It is strange, this
decking of the tombs; and surely no age so " antithetically
mixed " as ours is nothing more so than the tendency to
break the fetters of old customs, and to forge new ones in
their stead. We cast off " the scenes and the trappings of
war " to replace them by the adjuncts of bridal festivity.
Certain aspectsof the innovation wecan understand. "When
I die," said Dickens' Little Nell, " put near me something
that has loved the light and had the sky above it always."
And so they laid green leaves and winter berries by her.
We do not cavil at the garlanded barge of poor Elaine ; and
the poetess whose dreams had been of dying young, that
she might lie strewn over "with rosemary and rue," was
probably not singular in her sentimental fancy ; but the
prevailing practice of indiscriminately showeiung flowers
upon the dead, strikes us at times with a curious sense of
incongruity. Each to his liking.
Touch the topic gently, I fancy I hear somebody whisper.
So I will : but methinks nothing can so become a bier as
the " white flower of a blameless life." The signs of taste
and care are but as specks in the surrounding waste. Note
the carpet of tangled grass catching tlie feet as in a snare,
which o'erspreads the ground and half conceals the spots
where we would reverently forbear to tread ; the yawning
earth holes ; the displaced and broken stones, the defaced
inscriptions, the tall shrub we thrust aside to find perhaps
an epitaph engraven to " a modest wife and tender mother ;"
the trees, planted at first in token of regard, which in
numerous instances have reached to such a size as almost to
destroy the grave, a glimpse of mouldering stone, corroding
iron, or rotting paling discernible through the mass of foliage,.
12 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
alone declaring it is there. Verily the axe of the woodman,
as well as the chisel of " Old Mortality " would be needed
for the work of restoration here. Should this work of
restoration be begun 1 " Does it really matter very much'?"
I hear somebody ask, " Why solicitous for that which is
but dust 1 " Ah ! apart from the belief in which the term
"God's acre" has its root, care for that dust has been in all ages
an inherent instinct in the race, and developed more or less
according to the degree of civilisation attained. Close the
wicket, leave the ruined tombs behind, pass again into the
busy street, and, " letting the dead bury the dead," glance
once more into the page of the living.
And what was doing in the world in 1832 1 Let's see.
William IV. was king, and had for his queen the prim,
pretty, small-featured Adelaide, who was only 27 years
younger than her husband. Earl Grey was Premier, and
Lord Brougham the High Chancellor, and Melbourne and
Palmerston ruled the Home and Foreign Departments,
while Sir James Pike was First Lord of the Admiralty.
Judge Tindel presided at the Court of Pleas, and Lynd-
hurst at the Exchequer Court. And I may be excused for
mentioning there was still reigning in 1832 the Emperor of
Austria, born in 1768, who conjointly had been mixed up
with the awful Napoleon Bonaparte business at the end of
last and the beginning of this century. President Jackson
held office in America. And now I pass me on to Sydney
and New South Wales generally.
Sydney was a countrified sort of place in 1832, and you
would have missed 75 per cent of the present edifices then.
No Union Bank, no Australasian ; no bishop or cathedral ;
only the Bank of New South Wales and the Bank of
Australia, the former far down the street and nearer to
Davis's edifice than it now is. Two of the most prominent
men of Sydney in 1832 were Richard Jones and James
MEMORIES OF THE PAST. 13
Laidley, men of sound standing, well liked, and given to
hospitality, and whose sons prospered, and their daughters
married well. One of Mr. Jones' daughters married Robert
R. Mackenzie, Bart, one time a squatter in New England,
afterwards Colonial Treasurer of Queensland. Another
married Captain Bligh O'Connell, son of Sir Maurice of
that ilk, and afterwards of Mondure, Queensland. William
Laidley's daughters married re.spectivoly, Thomas Mort,
Henry Mort, John Sutherland Mitchell, and Judge Dowling.
Richard Jones, in the early thirties, tilled the offices of
Chairman of the Bank of New South Wales, Chairman of
the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, and Chairman of the
only marine insurance company then in Australia. He
was the inevitable president of all Sydney commercial
institutions in King William's time. He afterwards Itecame
member for Moreton Bay (alias all Queensland), in the
Sydney Parliament. At his garden on New Farm, near
Brisbane, was raised the tirst stalk of sugar cane gi'own
in Australia.
There was no Betty's Hotel, no Kent's Brewery, in Sydney
in 1832. They came later on in 1834. St. John's Church
was a dozen years old in King-street, and St. Phillip's had
stood still longer on a spur of Flagstaff Hill. The Rev. R.
Bourne still continued to preach to the natives of far-otl"
Raiatea, in the Society Group, and had not come to cast
his lot in Sydney, but the Rev. Ralph Mansfield run the
official Sydney new.spaper (the Gazette), tri-weekly, first
born in 1803. The Sydney Herald was founded in 1832, a
weekly paper, then under the auspices of Stephens and
Stokes, and it was not a daily " morning " Herald till long
after that. The Australian (weekly) started in 1824, and
the Monitor, a bi-weekly, dating from 182G, were the only
other Sydney journals in 1832.
Ah ! who shall tell of the old ghosts and old interests.
14 AUSTRALIAN PIONKERS AND REMINISCENCES.
old tales and histories of the lives and fates of Australian
people from 1832 to 1852, locked up in those worn out and
hoary old Sydney bank ledgers, nearly every page being the
nucleus of a vivid three-volume novel if the whole sur-
roundings were but tracked and delineated. Dost think
there are no ghosts in Sydney 1 Beware it is not London.
Has there been no time since 1788 for wrong to be done,
-for hearts to be broken, for mortgages to be foreclosed,
fortunes to be made 1 Ruin here 1 Good luck there 1
Happiness and joy 1 Misery and despair 1 All told of
indirectly in the ledger columns. Scrooge and Marley have
lived in Sydney as well as in London.
The Domain changeth not, nor doth Macquarie's Chair.
The odour of the gums and the sea, the pines and the fig
tree is wafted across just as free, the same as it was in
1852 and 1832, when the demons now dead were alive and
breathed it gladly and freely as we now do. For Sydney
then, as now, was a place where there was a sense of
" company " and companionship ; the one spot in the lone
South hemisphere where all was not wilderness, solitude,
and the desolation of isolation.
There is a grand old fig tree in front of the Public In-
struction Office in Sydney : and thereby hangs a tale. It
was once ofiicially proposed to cut that tree down and build
public offices on its site. Plans and specifications were
prepared and approved. The axes were sharpened to cut
the tree down — by the way the grinding of axes is a great
Australian institution, is it not 1 — evei-ything was ready
except one thing in the programme, namely, the projectors
had omitted to take into their confidence a certain old gentle-
man (M. J. were his initials), who was a great friend of Sir
John Robertson. Coming upon the scene unexpectedly he
spoke as follows : — " Cut that blankety-blank tree down !
I'll kill the man that lays a finger on it. Many a happy
SOCIABILITY AT DARLING POINT. 15
■day I've spent under it," tfcc, &c. And it came to pass
that the old tree stands and spreads to this day.
Good old early Sydney ! What a place it was ! There
was always a halo of Captain Cook about it the same as at
Tahiti, both of the classic and the poet. And how curious
it was when the delegated authority of the far off King of
England or Elector of Hanover met you at every turn ; the
lion and unicorn here ; the lion and unicorn there ; blue
coat, cocked hat, epaulets — all strange and incongruous
amongst the blacks and the gum trees of the great kangaroo
land, to say nothing of the branded curiosity.
The old uniformed men of 1830 and their stout-waisted
daughters of the same era have passed away from Sydney,
and sleep peacefully now. And the little ballroom
jealousies and questions of colonial procedure and official
etiquette have all gone to rest as quietly as the folks who
raised them.
It is difficult for us now to realise the Sydney of 1838
with the ladies all di-essed as to hair and contour like
Malibran, and before Tom Mort's beautiful garden was
laid out at " Mrs. Darling's Point," when Captain Lamb
stood proxy for the navy, and Laidley, dead only three
years before, had represented the commissariat branch of
the Imperial service ; when R. R. Mackenzie and Stuart
Donaldson were firm friends before tlie former's marriage
with the daughter of Richard Jones caused him to espouse
the latter's cause in the difference that afterwards arose
with Stuart Donaldson. Who does not remember the
neighbourly feeling that existed amongst the old residents
of Darling Points And Darling Point, be it understood
by those who have never seen it, is not very greatly
dissimilar to a little bit of the villa woodland of Jersey and
Guernsey transported to the other liemisphere, due allow-
ance being made for the difference of latitude and climate.
16 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
One proof of this neighbourly feeling was seen every
Sunday after service at St. Mark's Church. Mr. T. S. Mort
had his garden and grounds to the east of this church, and
Mr. Thomas Ware Smart to the west of it, and each of
them threw open his place as a thoroughfare and short cut
to all those attending the service, so as to enable tliem to
reach home witliout a long and roundabout walk by the
public road. Mr. Smart was a wealthy miller, and one of
whom Mr. Mort once said to me, " It's nice to have him on
a board of directors with you, as he always took such
common sense short cuts through any difficulty that arose.
What memories does a recollection of those who formed
the congregation of St. Mark's at this date revive 1 There
were Whistler Smiths of " Glenrock," the McCarthys of
" Deepdene," the Skinners, Rotherys, S. H. Sniythes,
Robert Tooth of " Brooksby " or " Ecclesbourne," Croft of
" Mt. Adelaide," Edye and William Manning, and Edwin
Tooth of " Waratah "
Neither " Cranbrook " nor the mansions of Dalley and
Holdsworth, near the lighthouse, were yet built. But
" Potts's Point " was well "settled." There was " Tuscu-
lum," where Mr. Young, the wine merchant lived ; the
fine mansion of old Thomas Barkei', the miller. The oldest
residents of tlie " Point," perhaps, were the Macleays, who
had for neighbours John Gilchrist and Challis (Flower,
Salting, & Co.) Neither McQuade's house on the shores of
Woolloomooloo Bay, nor J. D. McLean's "Quiraing" on
the Edgecliffe-road had been brought into existence ; but Mr.
Henry Prince occupied a splendid house that looked on E.
Tooth's "Waratah." I i-emember E. Tooth with Captain
Georoe Harrison, R.N. (a surveying shipmate of Captain
Wickham, and afterwards of Castlemaine and Melbourne),
and myself resolved, one Sunday, to walk to the lighthouse
and back before dinner for an appetite. The Captain was
"caste" superiority. 17
50, and I 20, and as he put it he felt proud of a 10-niile spin
with me.
And talking of dinners on Sundays reminds me that on
one Sunday in 1853, at Edwin Tooth's, there were present
his three brothers — Robert, Frederick, and Charles — when
we were startled by the news that the Kent Brewery was
ablaze. Off we all went post haste ; found Donald Larnach
and plenty of people there at rescue work. Malt and hops
burned freely ; and the rebuilding of the stone work, origin-
ally put up in 1834-, was costly in 1853; with mason's
wages verging on =£1 a day, "all along of" the gold time.
Such sympathy and assistance were shown by the neighbours
that it became imperative to publicly advertise the firm's
thanks therefor ; and herein I made a proposal, namely,
that each of the brothers and myself should write out a
notice — expressive of gratitude — for publication ; also that
the form should be duly submitted to a committee of ladies
(their wives), and the most aptly worded one of the
four should be accepted. The ladies unanimously pro-
nounced for mine, and it duly appeared ; but it must be
remembered that / had nothing at stake and wrote much
more deliberately than they could be expected to in their
flurry.
Business iras brisk then. I remember that Robert Tooth,
finding that the scarcity of copper change in Sydney
seriously affected the consumption of the ale in the expan-
sion of trade that took place between '51 and '53, offered
£10,000 for £5,000 worth of copper if landed in Sydney
by a certain date.
The convict system was at its full height in 1838. Never
were class and caste distinctions more strongly drawn. A
post-captain in the Royal Navy was as high and far re-
moved above a "broad-arrow" prisoner as a Brahmin above
a pariah or the King of England above the hang-
c
18 AUSTRALIAN PIOXEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
man. It was the interim darkness before the dawn.
It was absurd to note in the early convict days of Aus-
tralia the airs assumed by some ladies related to the humbler
grades of the army and navy oflficers : and tlie daughter of
a half-pay lieutenant or petty officer in either branch
scantily educated herself, in many cases, would be so inflated
with pride at her " caste " superiority over the actual con-
victs and their people, as to deem any lady, even of the
Iiighest and free mercantile class, below her ; also, there
were tremendous attempts made in those early days to make
the antipodean " aristocracy " consist entirely of the families
of government officials of all grades, deeming, no doubt,
that a government commission or post was the sole and only
guarantee or diploma of absolute solvency on the one hand,
and freedom from convict taint on the other. If Sir
Francis Burdett had only been sent to Australia, in place
of to the Tower, he would probably have encountered some
colour-sergeant's daughter tui'ning up her nose at him, had
they met in a quadrille.
This was the era when James Paterson, of the A.S.N.
Co., Sydney, and Captain Tilmouth J. Dye, of the Hunter
River New Steam Co., used to smile at each other in the
street, and (metaphorically), " cut each other's throats " with
their opposition and reduced fares and freights ; this was
the time when the Howsons and Carandinis and Miss Hart
delighted the gallery gods at the old " Vic." theatre in
Sydney, when Torning danced his hornpipe and sang his
*'■ patter " songs ; this was the era also when Mr. William
Barton, the sharebroker, of Sydney, father of tlie subsequent
Speaker and Attorney-General, did a flourishing business ;
arriving in Sydney in 1827, as secretary to the Australian
Agricultural Company, at Port Stephens, he left their
employ in 1830, and became the first "bull" and "bear"
south of the equator ; helped to float many of the early
Sydney's quaint suburbs. 19
Sydney banks and insurance companies, now towers of
wealth, and not of the 1892 fungoid, mushroom, and liqui-
dation type. He was on the London Stock Exchange in
1810, and served his time to old Mr. Barwise there, a
venerable relic of the bygone, who, born in 1740, still wore
in 1810 his hair powdered, pigtail, black knee breeches, and
silver buckles of George II. days.
Yes, the old Sydney streets and stony walls, old nooks
and corners of the young old city talk to me in a
language that is all unheard by the present generation, and
tell me tales to make me doubt whether to laugh or weep.
How that great dead metal clock, that towers high above
the city life of restless Sydney does continue to ring its
voice up ] and with a semblance of living interest in all
that transpires below it, warning every one that another
" giant of time " has just skipped away for ever, and that
there is only so much or so little time now left till that next
little episode in one's daily work and life comes off, and
wliich must be attended to or else .
And I have called it a dead clock, too. But is it ? When
"we drowsily turn us over in the night there is that great
sleepless giant still at his work the same as if it were high
noon in George-street !
There are some quaint old suburbs in Sydney : not pic-
turesque, but full of memories and associations. Their gum
trees were cleared off about the time of the Battle of
Waterloo, and the old mansions and villas (of 1838 or so),
that followed later on and had fifty acres of "grounds"
and paddocks round them passed into the hands of the Pitt-
street trader, who built and lived there through the stages
of schools and hotels ; and streets sprang up all round the
scene till at last the old houses had their bricks carted away
and left no record except that the large suburbs took the
name that the old family mansion once had. All this takes
20 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
US back to the days when the wild flowers grew close up to
where the post oiSce tower now is ; when the grandfathers
of modern Sydney were young ; when first Sydney found
out that it could wield a cricket bat on the level swards of
Port Jackson ; and that fishing down the harbour was not
the worst way of spending a day's or a week's holiday.
But all this was long ago, and the then people, male and
female, whose hair was not gray, and who were in their full
prime in 1840, now only have a name in the cemeteries, or
on old deed-boxes on lawyers' shelves, or in trust accounts,
or, perchance, some street or square, embalms their name
and memory for ever.
Yes, the town air was pure and fresh in early Sydney
1844 days, and one could travel overland from the top of
the hill in William-street to Shepherd's nursery past the
Kent Breweiy and find what a native would call " good
juberry and fine corn country," the whole way. For the
benefit of the uninitiated English reader it may be explained
that juberries are a wild nut fruit which do duty for black-
berries, and grew in the suburbs of Sydney as do the
blackberries over in the suburbs of London.
CHAPTER IL
New-born Luxury— Opening up "Way Back" — Pioneers on
THE Lower Murrumbidgee and Lachlan — Settlement
ON the Darling — Overlanding — Norbury, the Tracker —
On the Murrumbidgee — A Martinet at Whist — Chess
AND Draughts — Navigation of the Murray — Phelps of
Canally — The Old Squatting Men— Captain Cadell—
The " Lady Augusta" — Tyson Bros, on the Lachlan —
A Risky Undertaking — Old Melbourne— Men and
Matters— The Gold Era— New Melbourne.
HAT new-born luxury flooded Sydney
after 1852 ! Tlie refinements of Regent-
street and Bond-street appeared in the
^s^Jsliop windows. New fabrics, new con-
'>ifectionery, gloves and shoes, velvets and
plushes, brooches and necklets, furniture
^ and pictures, chef wines and liqueurs,
carriages and buggies of a class unknown
in the forties, abounded, and, " never mind, we can afford
it noiv" was the cry and the feeling all round.
Where now are the belles of 1852, the blondes and
brunettes who blossomed at the time when the gold fruit
budded in Australia, and who, with their lovers and hus-
bands and children, partook of the newborn fatness and
pleasures of the era of expansion and plenty "? Where are
they all now 1 Comely dames, most of them. A very few,
in the sear and yellow leaf of life, have lived to see their
grandchildren spring up under auspices and conditions
22 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
greatly and sadly contrasted with those of the '52 era.
Verily the folk who were born about 1830 had more to be
thankful for than the babes of 1870 now have.
And where are the brave men who sacrificed what little
" sociability " there was in Sydney and sought to open up
the territory, even now sometimes spoken of as " way
back?" Let us "review" a few of them.
The first to take up country on the Lower Murrumbidgee
and Lachlan was Mr. Hobler, who, with his family, settled
at Nap Nap. He it was who also took up Yanga and
Paika. Then John Scott occupied Canally, which he after-
wards sold to Phelps and Chadwick ; while at the junction
of the Murrumbidgee and the Murray the Jackson Bros,
took up a cattle station. Next in order of time and below
the Junction, William Ross formed Mailman Station, and
at the same time (in May, 1846), Boomiaricool, or. as it is
now known, Euston, was taken up by E. Morey. Plucky
men both these latter selectors were, for neither of them
was yet 20 years of age ! Eight months later the country
below Boomiaricool was taken up by John McKinlay, and
then gradually Kilcool, Mildura, and other stations followed
— Kilcool by Ebden and Keene, and Mildura by Jamison
Bros. At this time the Fletcher family occupied Tapio,
near the junction of the Darling with the Murray, and a
number of thrifty Scots settled themselves on country on
the Lower Darling.
During 1850, John McKinlay, John MacCallum, and the
selector of Boomiaricool explored the country above the
settlement on the Darling, and eventually stocked it —
MacCallum at Menindee with sheep, McKinlay at Pooncaree
and Pamameroo with cattle, and Morey at Tintanallogy
and Lake Terawanea with cattle.
It was in 1853 that the influenza scourge passed over
Sydney. I was one of the victims, and this, combined with
OVERLANDING. 23
the high pressure which characterised the work of a bank-
teller in those days, caused me, on the advice of my medical
man, to once more seek the fi'esh air. So I arranged with
my kind uncle in Sydney the introduction which enabled
me to travel overland with 10,000 sheep from Dubbo, on
the Macquarie River, to Paika, on the Murrumbidgee. The
two companions, who threw up their billets to come vvith
me, were Felix Neeld Burne and G. V. James. We left
Sydney in June, 1853. We met our " super," Mr. L., at
Dubbo, and he of course travelled with us. This was a
twelve-hundred mile trip. Burne, by the way, afterwards
took up Lansdowne, on tlie Barcoo (Queensland). This trip
with me was his introduction into squatting life, which he
afterwards followed up in partnership with the master of
the Sydney Mint and Captain Mayne. We had with us a
blackboy, " Norbury," a tracker and a native of the Bar-
won and Namoi Rivers, in the Mclntyre country. He and
I used to go out on the dewy grass, at day dawn, to track,
and bring in, the bullocks and horses which had strayed in
the night. / could see a track in the soft ground, and so
could any white fool ; but, when it came to the stony ground,
it was " Norbury, you bet." Often have I seen him (he had
but one eye, and that was a " piez'cer ") jump suddenly on
one side, where the scent and track grew dim, and " spot "
a place on the hard sandstone rock, and, when I asked him
to show me what he saw, he would point to one grain, a
mere speck, of sand, dislodged, by a horny hoof, from the
main mass of rock, and, presto ! we were full on the track
again.
This was a great trip, full of adventure and incident for
us all. I remember that before we got to Bendigo we heard
from people we met, of a story, that certain American diggers,
lately come from California, told of gold in immense quan-
tities existing near some mountains on the other side of the
24 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Lachlan, away from us ; gold which, they said, would eclipse
anything on Ballarat or the Turon, but for the one fact that
there was no water anywhere near it. I have often won-
dered since whether the Lambing Flat, and other rich
fields, which came to light many a year after our trip,
were foreshadowed in the flying prospecting trips of solitaiy
and scattered miners in those dim and early days of auriferous
discovery. But none of us had wanted to cross the ditch-
like Bogan, still less the muddy canal-looking Lachlan, both
so contrasted with the clear waters of the Macquarie, Mur-
rumbidgee, and Murray ; our ideas were purely pastoral,
and of the money to be made by stock-farming and the
magnificent wild oats through wliich we travelled on August
19th, 1853, together with blue forget-me-nots and pleasant
scented yellow and white flowers, were suggestive of good
country, a good season, fat banking accounts, high profits,
and gold diggings butchers purchasing fat stock and paying
for it in " dust." One Saturday in August we camped by
a large lake, which, somehow, in point of size at any rate,
reminded me of Rose Bay in Port Jackson ; it swarmed
with ducks, teal, and wild geese then, and there were
abundance of turkeys and emus handy.
Norbury, the black boy, captured a small opossum, and
sold it to James for half-a-pound of tobacco. It was about
this time, that I had a chance of witnessing this black boy's
tracking powers. He was small and slim, and, as I have
said, had but one eye, which glowed like a lamp. He and
I went out after the bullocks early one morning on stony
ground, where I could not perceive the ghost of a track,
though now getting used to picking up a trail. But Nor-
bury would jump from side to side as we journeyed on, and
would " spot " a slight abrasion freshly made on a piece of
sandstone by a hoof or horn, and that, too, ten or
twelve feet aside from our straight line of march — abra-
ON THE MURRUMJilDGEE. 25
«ions and small scratches on the stone, that I, though with
excellent sight for a white, should need a lens, and that at
«lose quarters, in order to determine.
One day Mr. L. decided to push on in tlie afternoon by
himself to try and find out Nicholas Chadwick's station,
called Povvpruck, which laid in the angle of the confluence
of the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee. Chadwick was a
partner of John Leckie Phelps, of Canally, on the Murrum-
bidgee, close to Wyndomel, its junction with the Murray.
But L. got lost this time, and came back at 8 p.m., guided
to us only by the light of our camp fire, and he did not find
Chadwick's place that day. Next day we bore to the left
through an opening, and made in towards the main river.
Chadwick's storekeeper saw us, and made for us after dark.
I lent my horse to Mr. L., who went on and found a shep-
herd lambing a flock. Chadwick's blacks, the lower Lachlan
tribe, came up to us next morning in great numbers ; one
of them, Anthony, a huge fellow nearly seven feet in height,
threw a reed spear with a " woomera " some four hundred
feet into the air ; it seemed to wriggle its way up right out
of sight. Mr. Chadwick — or Shadwick, as they all called
him — gave us a call this day, and piloted us safely along
clear of his own flocks. Burne, James and I were asked
up to his hut, where we found the almost-forgotten
^grement of reading some newspapers. The walls were
plastered with cuts from the Ilhistrated Xews, and we
who felt like people ott" a sea voyage in having been shut
out from the world for some weeks, read in the Sydney
Morning Herald, and with some interest, about the heroic
sti^uggles of W. C. Wentworth and other citizens in the
direction of securing Responsible Government and repre-
sentative institutions for New South Wales. How tlie
boon has worked, let those who read of tlie debates and
•deadlocks of 1877, declare.
26 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
When we left the lake, we travelled through a veiy dense
and sandy scrub, and one of the shepherds and his flock got
lost. We camped in the thick jungle, which we did not
get quite through, as the horses w^ere found very late in
the morning. Norbury and I had our usual very wet early
tramp after them. Burne and James set out next day after
breakfast to find Paika. I got entangled in another thick
scrub for two hours with a flock. Spied the clear plain at
last, and picked up the dray tracks.
Mr. Kii'by, the superintendent of Paika, came and met
us with his trusty blackfellow, Martin, an eagle-eyed Aus-
tralian chief. He camped with us that night, and discussed
the Louisa Creek gold mania. I piloted a flock on to the
Paika run next day, and we camped by the banks of Lake
Tauri, a beautiful sheet of water, with grassy, flowery,
well-wooded banks, and a higli red sand ridge on one side
of it. This was one of a series of lakes fed by the waters
of the Murrumbidgee River ; dry in some years, but
generally full from the overflow of the stream through its
ana branches.
On the following day Mr. L., Norbury, and a shepherd,,
went on to Paika head station, leaving me with the sheep by
Tauri. I went through my usual round of washing and
mending clothes whenever a spell offered. I cut out the
sheep into two flocks. I took a few lessons in the noble art
of cracking a stockwhip ; explored the country round and
found some very tolerable green substitute for cabbage. On
the last day in August I set to work and made a brush fence
and gateway for the purpose of counting the sheep. On
the 1st September Mr. Kirby came and counted them,
and found them to be 9,924, which, with six crawlers left
on the road, and the skins on the dray of those killed for
rations, just made up our tally.
We left two shepherds in charge at Lake Tauri, and rode
A MARTINET AT WHIST. 27"
on to Lake Cai'andulke. Norbury and Mr. Kirby went
thence to Paika. Mr. L. and James made for our Tauri
camp, which I guessed better at the position of, than he did,
for w^e differed as to the direction in which it lay, and my
course proved to be the right one. On September 2nd we
rode on to the Paika head station ; distributed our four
shepherds, 6ach to an outstation, re-put the drayload over
tlie ana brancli of Paika Lake in a canoe ; found Mr. Easton
at the house and enjoyed a civilized game of chess in
the evening.
And talking of chess calls to mind that towards the end
of 1865 I was made an honorary member of the Victoria
Club, in Castlereagh-street, and there met, at whist and
pool, many whom I had not known before. George Thorn-
ton, Dan. Egaii, Ted Lee, Fred. Cape, D. Melhado, Archie
Thompson, Alec Dick, Cheeke, Grundy, and William Jolly ;.
and there was the owner of Yattendon, too, whose name I
forget, and a terrible old judge, whose name I also " dis-
remember," but not so his prowe.ss at whist. He was-
considered the greatest martinet in Sydney at that game..
I was his partner one evening.
I was dealer, and turned up the nine of hearts ; I also-
had the ten. In playing I put down the nine first,
and afterwards the ten. His Honour cross-examined me :-
" Why did you not play the ten first in place of the nine ! "'
" Because no other card could come between them, and it
was immaterial which," I replied. " You ai*e mistaken,"'
retorted the judge, " it was anything but immaterial ; it is-
a player's business to let his partner know all that he fairly
can about the cards he holds, I knew you had the nine,,
the turn up, but not about the ten, therefore you missed a
point by playing the nine first, and it might have made a
difference both to me and to the game." I saw he was right,
and that what seemed terribly high-class whist to me might
"28 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCKNCES.
be the mere alphabet of the game to such a Regius professor
thereof as His Honour. But I never could give my mind,
nor have the patience to bring intellect, to bear on any game
•where the competitors do not start on exactly equal terms,
Avhich they seldom or never do at cards.
It is only at chess and draughts that one starts level, and
only here is it worth while to bring the brain to bear on
the struggle ; unfortunately, however, chess is so intricate
as to be only fit for people who have nothing else to study
if it is to be really played ; and the games which amateurs
contest in their recreation houi's in the intervals of business
are only chess strongly diluted, a mere parody on the real
scientific game. Draughts is more to the purpose. Both
these intellectual games originated in the strong brains of
the eastern races, who first gave us arithmetic and algebra,
only draughts is about 1,500 years the older of the
two. And it has other advantages over chess. At the
latter game, if you make a silly move, you can recall it next
time, and so not icaste hco moves in place of making one. All
this is impossible at draughts ; you must bravely move on
and on only, and take the consequences of all folly. " Vestigia
nulla refrorsnm " is the motto ; move on and no liberty
to retreat till you have " won your spurs " by piercing
through to the enemy's back squares. Again at chess
capture of a piece en 2')'>'ise is not compulsory, but it is so at
draughts, and this opens the way to some of the subtlest
strategy and brilliantly ingenious combinations of which
the human intellect is capable. A skilful player can sacrifice
his men and thereby " spread eagle " his adversary's more
numerous ones into a helpless and losing position, past all
power of retrievement. The startling development of a
skilfully constructed combination in a draughts problem is
one of the most engrossing and pleasurable fillips to a keen
intellect that can be "iven to it.
THE MURRAY NAVIGATED. 29"
But goodness me how diverting are these memories ! I
was far away at Paika when the thought of cliess carried
me back to the old Victoria Club. To resume.
I have elsewhere described, at greater length, this memo-
rable journey to Paika. On reaching Paika, Burne, James,
and I were sunjmoned back to civilisation, all, however, on
different errands. I shall never forget the times we had
there. Among otlier things more vividly impressed upon
me was the fact that we ran short of flour, and so serious
did things become that we often were put on short allowance.
Tala, Yangar, and Paika, W. C. Wentworth's great
stations, were near the junction of the Murray and Mur-
rumbidgee. Up to 1851 all went well there. The supplies
of flour and sugar, tfec, were hauled overland 800 miles or
3,000 miles from Sydney or Melbourne, save as might be
by bullock drays, and the wool ti-avelled back the same road.
To provide for contingencies, Wentworth kept 20 tons of
flour ahvays in stock, and other supplies in proportion ; but,
when the " gold broke out," no Melbourne teams would go
beyond Bendigo, nor Sydney teams beyond Bathurst. They
could get more per ton for the short trip, with loading for
the gold fields, than any squatter could afford to pay them
for the long trip ; so, when I was at Paika, in 1853, no
teams had been up, or down, for two years. There were two
seasons' wool stored in the sheds ; the remaining flour was
awfully musty ; boots, saddles, tinware, " slops," and the
like, had, long since, " given out " in the store.
I remember we used to boil " fat hen " (a weed which
resembles dandelion) for vegetables, and we bore the musty
flour as best we could, when, presto ! all the muddle came
to an end. One tine day, as Mr. J. Lecky Phelps, of Canally,
rode by the banks of the Murray, he espied an unwonted
sight breaking in on the bush and watery solitude. Stranger
and more wonderful than the fabled bunyip, there lay a.
30 AUSTRALIAN PIONEKRS AND REMINISCENCES.
steamer moored to the bank ; the energetic explorer, Cadell,
had brought up the " Lady Augusta," with Sir Henry Young,
the Governor of South Austi'alia, on board. Had pierced
the shoals that beset the sea mouth of the river, and van-
quished the inland wilderness of Australia by means of its
waterway, till then only thought of as a drinking reservoir.
And, what was best of all, there were 100 tons of goods
tumbled out on the river bank. The two years' siege was
raised. 50-lb bags of pure white flour, fresh from the mills
■of Adelaide ; spick and span boxes of loaf sugar, and
equally spick and span cases of Val Martell's brandy, and
sperm candles, all so clean, and other goods " too
numerous to mention." Xot covered with the dust and mud
of 800 miles and three months of weary bush travel ; viot
doled out in occasional dray loads of 30 cwt. at a time,
but fresh and clean only a week ago from the Adelaide
stores and from the hold of the steamer and her roomy
satellite barges. Here was a metamorphosis with a ven-
geance, and the congested wool stores soon afforded ample
return loading for the steamer and her barges. And station
property round those parts known as " Riverina " at once
I'ose 100 per cent, in the market. Phelps and I went on
board, and, in a glass of brandy " pawnee," drank success
to the Murray River navigation, and its bold pioneer. Cap-
tain Cadell.
Mr. John Lecky Phelps, of Canally, was a man much in
advance of his time. While other people for 1.50 miles
round had no vegetables, he cultivated a half-acre on the
river bank \\ith potatoes, green j)eas, French beans, and
cabbages, and he kept it irrigated by a very simple process,
for rain was uncertain in that far inland spot. He had a
Californian wooden pump, about 6 inches square, with its
■end fixed in the river, and about 1-50 feet of " osnaburgh "
hose from it to the top of the garden, which was, perhaps.
THE OLD SQUATTING MEN. 31
"three feet higher than the lower end by the river, and lialf-
an-hour of hand pumping every morning, sent the water
flowing zig zag backwards and forwards and in and out
through all the well-kept furrows and beds of the enclosure,
and the vegetation was always fresh and green at Canally
garden.
F. N. Burne returned to Sydney, via Wagga Wagga,
to see after and sell some consignments sent out by an uncle,
while I resolved to cut the land journey as short as possible
by going home via Melbourne. To this end I made over
to Lakes Tala and Yangar, a short distance from which I
joined the party of Messrs. W. J. Buchanan and Hugh
Harper, who had just delivered cattle from New England,
on the Murrumbidgee, and were bound also to the metropolis
of Victoria. It was December, 1853, and we had to face
some hot, waterless plains, and mallee country, where we
had to carry hogsheads of water on the dray for the bullocks
aiid horses, and to travel by night in place of day over the
burning hot shadeless levels ere we got clear of Poon Boon,
the Wakool, and the Edwards rivers and sighted the reed-
bed environs of Swan Hill, on the Murray, where a bottle
of ale at 8s. was most welcome and tonic after the eternal
relaxing tea of the preceding six months.
Here I noticed the difference between the Victorian and
New South Wales squatting man of the period. The former
usually dressed in a plaid "jumper," the latter in the fawn-
coloured tweed of his native Parramatta. They looked as
distinct as the denizens of two different countries, and the
difference was apparent directly the border Murray
River was passed. Our party made onwards past the Reedy
Lake and Lake Boyd, and at last we saw mountains in the
distance, the first to be seen since we left the Upper Lachlan
River. These were Mount Pyramid and Mount Hope.
Mount Korong (the golden) came in sight later on. We
\
32 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
were now in Sir Thomas Mitchell's "Australia Felix." We
recognised the fact, for anon we passed (with joy) the last
solitary small lonely clump of the detested " mallee " scrub ,•:
the Loddon river, renowned for its pasture, and the " Dur-
ham Ox," a famous roadside inn of the golden era, were
amongst our next experiences, and we passed on and drew
nigh to Bullock Creek and Bendigo, and I now pushed
ahead of the rest of the party, which travelled too slowly
for me.
The story of how the na^-igation of the Murray was-
l)rought about is worth repeating.
There were really two staunch advocates of the navigation
of the Murray — Mr. E. Morey and Mr. Samuel Macgregor.
There were likewise two obstacles in the way, for Melbourne
was jealous of the trade going to her southern neighbour,
Adelaide, and it was difficult to find money with which to
give effect to the venture.
The idea, like most other out-of-the-way propositions, was
laughed at by business men. However, Morey saw Captain
Stuart, the explorer, who had, on his last journey, pulled
down the Murray, and had introduced him to Sir Henry
Young, then Governor. The Governor requested Morey to-
furnish an estimate of the probable trade, a request which
was speedily complied with ; for Morey recognised that it
was advisable to strike the iron while it was hot. Then
Captain Cadell pulled down the Murray from Swan Hill to^
Lake Alexandria, and the impressions made on him are
shown by the fact that shortly afterwards he took up what
was the first steamer that ever traversed the waters of the
great waterway. The craft was a rough-decked boat, with
improvised engines, fitted by an enterprising miller from
the Adelaide side. It took her a month to make Swan
Hill, for her maximum speed was, stemming the current,
but three or four miles an hour. After the vice-reaal visit.
NAVIGATION OF THE MURRAY. 33
for Governor Young travelled on the pioneer vessel — which,,
out of compliment for the efforts His Excellency had put
forth, was named after his lady — trade quickly grew.
Steamers and their satellite barges were multiplied, and the
Murrumbidgee and the Darling, as well as their minor
branches, suffered their fresh water shallows to be invaded,
conquered, and explored by a flotilla of mercantile business-
feeders of the flat-bottomed type.
The Tyson brothers were, in 184:6, occupying the country
at the extreme lower end of the Lachlan, where its muddy
waters unite with the pellucid Murrumbidgee. They were
keen business men, living in bark huts, of their own build-
ing, and always open to a " deal " in the way of cattle.
The Lake Paika station was, afterwards, purchased by one
of them, with 12,000 cattle, at £8 per head, the time and
the proximity to a market being, alike, favourable to such
a high price ruling. When the " Lady Young " first came
up, and was tied to a tree below Euston, a drunken bush-
man came on board, and, pushing his head into the cabin
where His Excellency was shaving, shouted "give us a
passage up the river. Governor." Captain Cadell put him
ashore vi et armis, when the fellow turned round and said
to him, " Well ! you are a hugly man." The crew laughed,
but the bushman did not, for Cadell was a two-handed
bruiser, and soon left the bushman nothing to complain of
on the score of beauty, when once he had stepped on shore
to him. The Murray explorer was brave to foolhardiness,
whereof witnesseth the fact that he once drove up the
Darling River, in a buggy, for 200 miles, with a view to
learn its eligibility for navigation. Having done so, he, in
place of coming back the same route, conceived the strange
idea of cutting straight across country to the Murrumbidgee,
overland, and away from the river !
Now, anyone who knows the " Old Man " plain, near
D
34 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Hay, the dread of bushmen, can appreciate what a task it
is to face a waterless prairie between two comparatively
approximate rivers ; and, still more, what it must be like
to attempt to negotiate the third side of a triangle in water-
less country, when the other two sides consist of two such
widely divergent and lengthy streams as the Murrumbidgee
and Darling are. Cadell's black boy tried, in vain, to
dissuade him from the attempt, which was made, with the
result that the two of them nearly perished from thirst and
hunger. But what was so akin to a tragedy, had an element
of comedy imported into it by the freely circulated, if not
truthful, report, that, but for the abundant supply of hair
pomade which the gallant explorer always carried with him,
he and the black boy would have been unable to soften, and
eat, the leather leggings, straps, valise, &c., which, it is
coolly stated, alone saved them from starvation. How
much "bush chaff," and what residuum of fact, there may
be in this, I am unable to tell with certainty.
On the way back from Paika, I had as a companion Con-
stable Lalor. I. started on December 10th, 1853, walking,
as I have said, from Canally to Yangan, there to pick up
Buchanan's teams, for, though the steamer was up the
Murray, I heard she wasn't to return to Goolwa until
January. We arrived in Melbourne two days after Xmas,
our yule tide festivities being partly spent at the Porcupine
Inn. The traffic here was something tremendous. We met
200 drays, which was so strange after all the months of
solitude. We camped at " Sawpit Gully " on Xmas night,
and on the 27th made our destination, about which my diary
says : "Arrived at Melbourne at half-past one ; tents now all
the way from Prince's Bridge to Liardet's boat shed."
I lind on consulting my diary again that I did write
Melbourne. At this date even I am led to wonder why I
didn't call the place by its proper name ; for Melbourne
OLD MELBOURNE. 35
wasn't the name most people knew Sydney's great neighbour
by. It was then, and for years afterwards, invariably spoken
of as Port Phillip. But I said Melbourne in my jottings,
and I suppose I had some special reason for so designating
it, though for the life of me I cannot now conjure up the
reason why. Falling across that little entry has revived
memories of Melbourne, for Melbourne has a past, just as
Sydney has.
Oh ! don't you remember old Melbourne, Ben Bolt,
When gold nuggets first were found out?
When mid five feet of mud on the wharves and the streets
And all night " stickers-up " roamed about ?
Ah ! those were the days, you just bet, Ben Bolt,
When dollars could quickly be made ;
You might buy what you liked, in both market and store,
For you "couldn't go wrong " in a trade.
Victoria and Van Diemen's Land were both a little like
old England in climate ; the elms and the hawthorn and the
sweetbriar grew all about ; and, in Tasmania, the swallows
came back in the spring just as they do "at home." But
the difference between the two colonies was in population
and bustle, for Melbourne in 1853 was like a little London,
while Tasmania was as dull as ever. Old mother Sydney
■began to wake up, rub her eyes, and note the strides that
her eldest daughter was taking, under the stimulus of nine
millions of gold per annum (increased to twelve millions in
1856), in a population of less than 300,000.
Miscamble, the veterinary surgeon, kept his place of
business at the corner of Little Bourke and Elizabeth-
streets. Melbourne proud to mimic London in everything
-and remembering her famous old inn yards whence country
carriers used to start — places like Girard's Hall, in Basing-
lane ; the Swan with Two Necks, in Carter-lane ; and all and
sundry those square court yarded old inns with wooden
36 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
galleries all round their inner sides, so famous in the pages-
of Chaucer and of Dickens; common alike to South wark,.
Bishopsgate, and the lanes about Thames-street — Melbourne,
I say, remembering all those old institutions, and their
"neat wines," and ordinaries, and lemon nets, started one
for herself named after the old "Blossoms " inn in London,
In Elizabeth-street at the " Blossoms " yard one could, in
the " early fifties," book luggage and parcels per carrier
in the ante-railway days for Bendigo, Castlemaine, "Simp-
sons," Mount Blackwood, Ballarat, Creswick's Creek, and
Beech worth, to say nothing of St. Kilda, Prahran, Richmond,
and Emerald Hill. And, oh dear me, what a big, noisy,
bustling, public house was Mat. Caution's, the Bull and
Mouth, in Bourke-street, in those days.
What a job it was to get even a shakedown there ; and'
how full the place was of fellows who appeared to have but
two alternative missions in life since they returned gold-
laden from Ballarat or Castlemaine ; for they wanted to
pay for everybody's liquor, or, in default of that, to fight
everybody. They seldom ate, bathed still less frequently,,
and never seemed to go to bed at all, but passed their time
over " sherry spiders," " sparkling 'ock," and similar money-
melters. Peoj^le dined with their hats on at Cantlon's, and
with their pipes by the side of their plates. Outside in the
streets the gold brokers outbid each other by 3d. or 6d. per
ounce in the price for the heavy metal, as could be seen
by reading the placards outside, and in the windows of
each office ; and the same could be seen in the windows
at Ballarat and Castlemaine. Instead of " rags, bones,,
and bottles," as in England, or " wheat, wool, bark, barley,,
tallow, and hides," as in Hobart Town, it was, here, "high-
est price given for gold " ; and over it all hung somehow aa
ever present and indefinable flavour of the Crimean War^
that permeated the mental atmosphere, for it took away all
THE GOOD OLD GOLD DAVS. 37
the steamers of any size, and made public interest concen-
trate on the English mails brought by the " Black Ball "
liners — " Red Jacket," " Blue Jacket," Donald McKay,
.and the rest of them ; for the G.S.S. Co.'s boats were at
Balaclava in place of Williamstown, and even the " Great
Britain " herself was not a constant visitor after her first
trip in 1852.
And though it was noisy and disorderly and unconven-
tional at Cantlon's Bull and Mouth hotel, and all over
Melbourne, too, for that matter, yet what absolute '■^ money"
there was in it all ! None of your credit and inflation !
How the money fed commerce and fertilized the avenues of
trade ! Never was the like before or since in the world, when
native gold, fresh and rough from the earth, came pouring
in at the rate of £40 a year for every man, woman, and
baby in the colony of Victoria, and nearly -£400 a year for
every individual man, woman, child, and infant in the town
of Melbourne. No wonder that matters were (more or less
pleasantly) unhinged. It was all uncouth enough, no doubt,
but it was good solid " financing " on one side, at any rate,
and if there are any who doubt this — well, let them ask the
millionaire, Cantlon, in his West End London villa, of later
years, to say nothing of other retired plutocrats, who
skimmed the cream of the teeming gold yield, and caught
it in the vessels of trade.
Ah ! those good old days of redundant Australian pros-
perity, when the gold of 1853 came teeming out of the
earth, and no one knew its value, and everyone was afraid
to touch it, and thought it would fall in price like silver in
1892. The days when there were no Australian mints,
and but few assayers ; and no one could tell properly whether
the rough alluvial dirt-stained, ponderous yellow metal,
lying in heaps in all directions, was worth £3 or £4 the
ounce. The days when the Bank of New South Wales
38 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
settled the matter (pro. tern.) by offering its pajjer notes at
the rate of £2 10s. per ounce for all the £3 15s. gold it
could secure far and wide, and when no other buyer was
"game" even to give "that much." The glorious old days
when Khull, of Melbourne, and John Godfrey Cohen, of
Sydney (besides others) flourished as "gold brokers " (where
is the need in 1892?) and skimmed the cream and shaved
the edges of profit on this metal of then unknown assay and
unknown value ; the days when that notorious, rascally
gold buyer at the Turon, held the powerful magnet per-
petually sewn up in his coat sleeve, for the l^enefit of the steel
beam of his scales as he poised them in air with the gold side
of the beam just under his wrist ; and whose troy weights,
though often suspected, challenged, and tested, could never
be found wanting by the keenest inspector, but who robbed
the diggers none the less to a fearsome extent with the aid
of the loadstone ; the days when Australia did without
"loans," and the digger could stand a lot of "robbing,"
and not feel it, as Dame Nature was his banker, and he got
her gold by the pint and quart, and cared not whether it
was 18 or 22-carat stuflf; the days when the professional
politician loafer had not come into play, nor sold his con-
science to Satan for a few loaves of bread, and left Australia
l)urdened with debt for uselessly duplicated political log-
lolling railways.
Before I bid adieu to Melbourne, let me say a few more
words about it. With the exception of a few hours spent
there in passing through in 18-53, I never saw Melbourne
from early 1851 to late 1888, when I, of course, approached
by the railway and Albury route, and not via Swan Hill.
Heavens ! what a metamorphosis was there in those thirty-
eight years of gold-fostered development 1 Long ere I got
to Spencer-street, and after I got out into Hobson's Bay
also, there loomed the domes of the Supreme Court and
I
NEW MELBOURNE. 3^
the Exhibition Building. Heavenvvard pointed the tall
steeples in Collins-street ; towering buildings and factory
chimneys marked the site of a city, indeed ; where all was
dull, tame, flat and empty, in 1851. St. James's Church,
which stood out boldly across a grassy flat in 1851, was now
stowed away somehow behind a mass of bewildering build-
ings, and I had to hunt for it. And I saw the glorious,
garden - strewed, flower - decked, tram and train-served
suburbs, where, in 1851, a punt and a dusty desolate road
alone marked the site. St. Kilda, where some cottages, a
gravel pit, and a waterhole did duty in 1851, was " some
pumpkins " in 1888 ; but I cannot continue the list. Mel-
bourne seen from the plains to the north, or from the lofty
upper deck of a mail steamer in the bay, was a royal city
then in every sense of the word. But then, the other
changes, which do not appear on the surface, but which all
bore their part ! The Governors, from Latrobe and Hotham
to Loch and Hopetoun ; the premiers and cabinets, from
the days of Ebden, Ireland, O'Shanassy, Michie, Fellows,
Haines, Nicholson, through the times of Richard Heales,
McCulloch, Francis, and Berry, down to the modern times of
Gillies and Munro. What a chapter on or rather of Victorian
history do they represent ! The social growths, the " ups
and downs " of fate, the constant onward progress since the
good old days when Thomas Howard Fellows, and his col-
leagues of the Victorian Bar, took part in those glorious,
witty, social circuit dinners and suppers of that by-gone
time — well on in this same nineteenth century, perhaps,
but still far back in the growth of the young giant known
as the colony of Victoria.
CHAPTER III.
Eakly Settlers on the Clarence— Richard Craig's Discovery —
Dr. Dobie's Days — Dr. Lang's Highland Immigrants —
A Pathetic Incident — First Attempts at Sugar Making —
Initial Difficulties — ('rude Plants— The French Baron's
Experiments — Scenes of Older Sydney — Memories of the
Past — Sydney Banks and Banking — A Few Figures —
The Crumbling of the Big Institutions— The Cobra and
White Ant of Finance.
■^v^ T the time that Cook, in coasting the eastern
shore of Australia, discovered and named
Shoalwater Bay, he had no idea t)iat it was the
estuary of an important river, and it was not
P till the New England tableland was occupied by
^ pioneer squatters that the coast country began
to be explored. There were obstacles to be
overcome. The country did not, at first
sight, look inviting. The landing was, nearly everywhere,
difficult and dangerous. The long stretches of sandy beach
were lashed by the vast rollers of the Pacific. The few
streams had their mouths more or less completely closed
by sand-bars, on which the surf never ceased to beat, and
it was neither safe to seek, nor easy to find, the few narrow
and tortuous channels by which they could, when wind and
tide served, be passed. Then, when the bar had been safely
crossed, there was little to be seen but endless ranges of
mangrove swamps — fetid mud below, and twisted roots and
EARLY SETTLERS ON THE CLARENCE. 41
branches above. There was nothing to be got to compen-
sate for the risk and trouble of such risky and troublesome
navigation. Hence settlement progressed from the interior
coastwards.
The first report of the existence of a great river flowing
into the Pacific from the eastern mountain fringe of the
New England tableland, was given by Richard Craig, an
assigned servant of Dr. Dobie, of New England. Craig
either took to the bush voluntarily, as many others did, or
got lost in the ranges while out shepherding— the latter
was his own story — and was carried down towards the coast
by the blacks. He apparently got tired of such companion-
ship, finding that he had even less liberty than as an assigned
servant, and made his way back over the range, where he
was forgiven in consideration of the information he had to
give.
Just then a drouglit was raging in New England, and
Dr. Dobie started him off with a flock of sheep to the low
country, where he reported grass and water to be abundant.
Craig said he had seen a river a mile wide, with its banks
clothed with a dense cedar scrub, and good, sound, lightly
timbered, and well-grassed ridges, with abundant well-filled
creeks running between them. Such a pastoral paradise
was not to be despised, and the Doctor followed with more
stock. Others were not slow to imitate so good an example.
Dr. Dobie took up countiy close to the present township of
Grafton. The Ogilvies made their way through the ranges
— almost impassable even now — -from the Upper Hunter,
and took up Yulgilba. They endured almost incredible
hardships on their journey; but the Hon. E. D. Ogilvie,
now the only survivor of the party, has reaped a rich reward.
Eatanswill, which had its home station at a point over-
looking the first crossing-place over the river above Grafton,
was taken up soon after the " Pickwick Papers " reached
42 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Australia, and the adventures of Mr. Pickwick at the
Eatanswill election so tickled the original settlers, that they
incontinently named their new station after the immortal
rotten borough. It is now a thriving village, with numliers
of farming settlers round it, but the inhabitants are ashamed
of the old name, and have euphonised it into Eatonsville.
What would Dickens think of the change 1
It was not long before Sydney got news of the fine
northern river, and of the apparently inexhaustible cedar
scrub on its banks. The yield of cedar from the Shoalhaven
brushes had, for some years, been falling off. The easily
accessible timber had almost all been cut, and it was
necessary for the sawyers to go long distances to find
passable logs, and expend a great deal of time and labour
in getting them out of the gullies where they had been cut.
Mr. Small, of Kissing Point, determined to try what could
be done on the newly-discovered river. He fitted out a.
schooner, the " Elizabeth," to look for a shipment of cedar,
put on board a cargo of such supplies as he knew would be
wanted, together with a party of timber-getters, and sent
her to seek her fortune. The late Mr. Freeburn, for many
years pilot at the Clarence Heads, was one of the schooner's
crew. According to him, the entrance to Shoal Bay was
then much wider than at present, and the schooner entered
over what is now dry land, occupied Vjy the township of
Iluka, on the North Head.
The " Elizabeth " anchoi'ed near the little island that
now bears her name, and the saws and axes went merrily
to work. So plentiful was the cedar that there was little
difliculty, as soon as she had discharged her cargo of supplies,
in filling her up with cedar logs. It was necessary to do
little more than fell the trees on the bank, bark them, cross-
cut them, roll the logs into the water, and float them
alongside, to be hoisted on board by the schooner's tackle.
EARLY SETTLERS ON THE CLARENCE. 43<
The timber trade was a most lucrative one, since the surplus-
supplies taken to the river by the schooners were eagerly
bought up by the squatters of the upper river, who gladly
availed themselves of the chance of replenishing their stocks-
of tea, sugar, flour, &c., by sea, rather than by the long
land route round by New England, from the Hunter or Port
Stephens.
It was not long before a farming population settled on
the rich lands of the lower river. The tirst were station
hands, who, having completed a term of service under
indenture, had saved money enough to buy small farms.
These men did not generally profit by tlie experience of the
Illawarra and Hawkesbury settlers, who had learned the
superior fertility of the brush lands. They dreaded the'
labour of clearing the heavy brush on the river bank, and
settled on the less fertile forest lands at the back.
The first settler on the scrub lands on the river bank, was
Mr. William Amos, who, after occupying a farm on the
Williams River for several years, had migrated to the
Manning, and, subsequently, at a land sale in Sydney,
bought 80 acres at Ulmarra. Tliere he made his home,
and, long after, used to tell how he sold his first crop of
maize, planted with the hoe among the logs and stumps,
before the land was sufficiently cleared to get the plough
through it, for £1 per bushel. Mr. Amos prospered exceed-
ingly, and, subsequently, bought another and larger farm,
on Swan Creek, a few miles higher up the river, where he
had, as a neighbour, Mr. William Small, one of the sons of
the owner and builder of the historic schooner " Elizabeth."
Another of Mr. Small's sons, John, settled on Woodford
Island. Mr. Amos died a few years ago at a good old age,
universally respected. He furnished a striking illustration,
of the truth that illiteracy is no bar to success in life. He-
could never do more than write his signature to a cheque,.
44 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
but was an excellent farmer, and a good clear-headed man
of business.
In the fifties the lower river was settled by a number of
Highlanders imported by Dr. Lang. They made excellent
•colonists, steady, shrewd, and industrious. A large pro-
portion of the first generation never learned to speak English,
and for years, even in the late seventies, Gaelic was the
most prevalent language of many neighbourhoods, especially
the islands of Shoal Bay. Many Germans, too, chiefly from
the Rheinland and Bavaria, settled on the river. These
also formed a most valuable element. They introduced the
cultivation of the vine, and if the vineyards of the Clarence
■cannot pretend to vie in reputation with those of Albury,
tlie Hunter, and Inverell, they are certainly neither less
productive nor less profitable to their owners. The mixture
of Celtic and Teutonic blood ought, combined with the warm
East Australian climate, to produce a race-type which, in a
oentury or so, will be worth the notice of ethnologists, and will
reward their study by supplying some newfacts and inferences.
Before the passing of Sir John Robertson's " Land Act
of 1861," the settlement on the Clarence and adjacent river
basins was sparse ; but the district was one of those in
which free selection did most good and least harm. There
was no clashing between the interests of selectors and the
pastoral tenants. The good lands were so heavily timbered
^s to be useless for grazing purposes. But the rich deep
soil, when the timber is once cleared off, is just what the
agricultural settler wants, and when the Act of '61 came
into force, it was taken up freely, to the great profit of the
selectors, and the immense gain of the country as a whole.
The basin of the Clarence is divided from that of the
little river Bellinger, or " Bellingen," as the blacks call it,
by a low volcanic range, which is clothed with a dense cedar
.scrub, the trees bound together by an almost inextricable
PENETRATING THE INTERIOR. 45"
tangle of vines and " lawyer canes." This formerly exten-
ded right across the Bellinger valley, and up into the
mountains almost to the Guy Fawkes Mountain, It was,
when first settled, a mine of wealth to the inhabitants of
the many sawyers' camps which dotted the country, shipping
their timber from the river by small vessels that regularly
came for it when they could get into the river — which was
not by any means always possible, for the bar was, and is
now, as capricious as any fair lady. There is a story that
a certain eminent politician and one time Premier of New
South Wales, once at low water waded across the Bellinger
bar from South Head to North Head. It will be readily
believed that the river was then hermetically closed to navi-
gation, and it has often been in the same condition both
before and since. In such cases the population had no
resource but to wait as patiently as they could for a flood
to come down and sweep the obstructive sand into deep
water. In times when the river was closed, the people
were forced to live on boiled maize, beef, and kangaroo, with
an occasional supply of tea, sugar, and flour brought on
pack-horses from the Macleay.
The sawyers and timber-getters had a hard life on the-
Bellinger in the old times, and well into the sixties. It
was alternately a feast and a famine.
When the small craft from Sydney got in with their
cargoes of rations, drapery, tobacco, and rum, their arrival
was celebrated with a wild orgie. Every man tapped his
keg of fiery spirit, and men and women alike drowned their
sorrows in the lethe of intoxication. Hard work and
hard fare were alike forgotten for a time ; but the saturn-
alia did not last more than a day or two. The schooner
liad to be loaded, and soon the hardy fellows braced them-
.selves to their work. The logs from the upper river were
generally rolled into the water, and left to float dowi>
46 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
■without any further interference than was necessary, when
they got aground, to roll or push them into deeper water.
At the head of boat navigation, some five or six miles from
the sea, the logs of each party would be formed into a "boom"
(i.e., chained together end to end), or a " raft " (chained side
by side), and anchored under the bank. Then, Avhen the
schooner has discharged lier stores, the rafts and booms
■destined to form her cargo would be guided alongside, and
the logs detached, and hoisted on boai'd. There were cases
in which, when the bar was bad, the vessels would lie to in
the offing, and rafts and booms would be taken out to them
by boats and shipped in the same way. This was a trouble-
some and dangerous opei'ation requiring great skill and care,
and particularly fine weather for its successful accomplish-
ment. In some cases, however, considerable cargoes of
timber have been shipped from open beaches ; but in one of
these instances, at least, the attempt resulted in the loss of
the vessel, which was driven ashore and wrecked.
Just one episode to illustrate life in the cedar-country
some five-and-twenty years ago. It was on the Richmond
River. A sawyer named Jones, who was working in what
was called the Big Scrub, had pulled down the river with
his wife and their three-month's-old baby to meet the weekly
steamer from Sydney at the heads. It was a long pull, and
the heat of the day — -it was in December — was made none
the more tolerable by the scrub, which lined both banks of
the river, excluding every breath of air. Jones did his
business, and next morning they started for the long 20-
miles' pull home against the stream.
Jones pulled away bravely, with an occasional spell for
Si rest and a drink. His wife sat in the stern-sheets with
the baby sleeping quietly in her arms. Her parcels from
the steamer were arranged around her. She heard the
rippling murmur of the water on the boat's side, and the
FIRST ATTEMPTS AT SUGAR MAKING. 47
rattle of the sculls in the rowlocks. She felt the impulse of
«ach stroke, and she knew the distance to the little slab and
bark hut they called home was lessening. But it was hot !
The shining water below seemed to reflect the heat of the
pitiless blazing sky above. Suddenly the monotonous rattle
of the sculls in the rowlocks stopped. The boat ceased to
move. The current was slowly carrying her down the river.
The woman in the stern-sheets looked up quickly, and saw
her husband. He sat limply on the thwart. His hands
still grasped the sculls. His eyes were open, but there was
no light in them. There was foam on his bloodless
lips. She sprang up and seized the sculls, while his body
fell forward into the bottom of the boat. He was dead !
The widow disposed the corpse as well as she could, closed
the eyes, and then pulled the boat home with one hand,
while she clasped her child to her breast with the other.
There were no coroners or inquests in those days, and two
or three compassionate neighbours buried the dead man.
It was not until 1864 that the idea of growing sugar-cane
for profit was seriously entertained in New South Wales.
It was found that cane would grow as far south as the
Manning River, but the cost of machinery was a serious
difficulty. In the year named, a French creole, from the
Mauritius, made his appearance on the Manning, and
induced some of the richer settlers to plant cane and put up
a mill. He called himself a " Baron," and boasted of his
experience and skill in sugar-making and distilling. The
mill was a curiosity in its way. The " liquor " (cane juice)
was pumped up from the rollers to the upper floor of the
building, and was there clarified and boiled in deep copper
pans holding some 300 gallons each. The result was that
the syrup would not granulate, and, not having been properly
clarified, had a most unpleasant taste. A very few trials
sufliced to show that " the Baron " was a hopeless incompe-
48 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
tent, if no worse. He had managed to get a good fat salary
from his dupes for the twelve months or so that the delusion
lasted ; and, when the exposure came, he took himself off
before worse came of it. The farmers ploughed out their
cane, and disposed of their mill and its costly appliances for
what they would fetch. Of course the whole thing was a
transparent fraud from beginning to end.
The sugar-boom was louder, and lasted longer at Port
Macquarie. The humid climate, and rich volcanic soil of
that locality were evidently specially suited for sugar-cane,
just as they also are for the production of a rich, full-bodied,
coarse-flavoured red wine very like some of the vintages of
the Ionian Islands and Southern Italy. Sugar was sui^posed
to be a very profitable crop. It was well known what large
returns the West Indian plantations once gave with really
very primitive appliances, and there seemed really no reason,
why the same thing might not be done in Australia if skilled
overseers and sugar-boilers could be got from the West Indies
or elsewhere. At Port Macquarie a very considerable area
was planted, chiefly with the rank-growing, juicy Bourbon
cane. Some small mills were put up, and worked with
horse-power. Sugar was made too, and it is quite possible
that, if the enterprise had been persevered in under proper
scientific direction, if experiments had been made to find a
variety of cane really suited to the soil and climate, and
proper appliances had been used for the extraction of the
sugai-, something might have come of it. As it turned out,
the Bourbon cane was a dismal and unmitigated failure, as-
it afterwards proved in Queensland. It grew and flourished
exceedingly, up to a certain point ; but it proved extremely
susceptible to the attacks of disease. Winter and wet weather
were equally destructive, and it was financially ruinous.
The people of the Macleay River caught the sugar fever
like the rest, Mr. Sydney Verge, a then wealthy landowner
INITIAL DIFFICULTIES. 49
of the district, put up a large sugar-mill on the river, and
the Colonial Sugar Refining Co. there erected their first
Australian mill, which was subsequently removed to the
Clarence. Nearly every one was bitten with the sugar
mania, and all burned their fingers. It was not seen that
the successful prosecution of that, or any other industry re-
quired knowledge and experience, and nobody had it. A
few partial successes were achieved, but it was found that
the cane suffered much from the winter frosts which stopped
its growth, if they did not cut it down altogether. Perhaps,
if the truth were known, the plants came in the first place
from a diseased stock ; but there was little room for
selection. It was, in most cases, Hobson's choice, and any-
one who wanted to grow cane had to take such plants as
were offered to him or none, and in any case no one had the
necessary knowledge and experience to guide him in making
a selection.
It would not be easy to overrate the services rendered to
the Colony by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. When
they erected their first mill on the Macleay, they were
absolutely without experience in the treatment of cane and
cane liquor. They began by trying to make " concrete " — •
boiling the syrup till it was a solid mass This was shipped
to their Sydney works (then situated in Parramatta-street).
It was soon found that the system did not pay, and it was
abandoned. However, the Company was not discouraged.
Ir persevered in its efforts, making new experiments when
the old ones failed, and accumulating experience, the only
source of real knowledge. The Macleay River mill, however,
was soon removed to the Clarence, where, it was found, the
cane would really thrive. All who had attempted growing
cane on the Macleay soon came more or less heavily to grief ;
some, who had proceeded cautiously, only lost the produce
of a year or two's work ; but others, lured on by the hope
60 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
of sudden wealth, and the idea that they would be able to
play the part of the old-fashioned West India planters of
the pre-emancipation days, had not only given time, labour,
and land, but they had spent every penny at their command,
and pledged their credit far beyond their means of repay-
ment. Many were totally ruined beyond hope of redemp-
tion. It all resulted from the connnon folly of letting go the
substance and grasping at the shadow. If the old West
India planters had not had the advantage of slave labour
with a monopoly of the English market for their sugar they
would not have realised such splendid returns from their
plantations, and the proof of this is to be found in the utter
collapse of West India values when emancipation and free-
trade came to take away slave labour and monopoly.
Further north the results were better. On the Bellinger,
one small sugar-mill, owned by a farmer named Williams,
survived till 1880. It was a curiosity in its way, made
entirely by Williams himself, who was a blacksmith by
trade, and a most ingenious man to boot. The rollers (a set
of three, placed upright) had been cast and turned for him
in Sydney ; but he had himself made the strong iron frames
in which they were set. The clarifiers and boiling-pans he
made out of half tanks, and he built the furnace, flue, and
chimney. He worked the farm and mill with the help of
his numerous family, and it would have been very wonderful
if, under such circumstances, with the most unremitting
industry, the concern had not been made to pay. There was
a similar example of industry and ingenuity combined on the
Lower Clarence in John Bale, who lived on one of the
islands of Shoal Bay. He was one of the first to plant cane,
and as there was no mill to crush it for him, he resolved to
make his own. As he had even less money than Williams,
he could not buy iron rollers. He therefore turned them
out of a bean-tree log (the hardest of Australian woods).
CRUDE PLANTS. 51
He even had to make his own lathe for the purpose. In
fact, with the exception of a number of cog-wheels, and
odds and ends, which he had bought as old iron, the whole
mill was the work of John Bale's own hands.
The first sugar-mill on the Clarence was a co-operative
aflfair at Ulmarra. It was opened by the Earl of Belmore,
the tlien Governor, during his visit to the Clarence in 1868.
The capital was subscribed by the farmers of the neighbour-
hood, but it was an utter and very costly failure. It never
made a pound of sugar. It was designed by a local genius,
and was of much the same type as "The Baron's " brilliant
conception on the Manning. For many years it remained
closed and useless; but in 1875, Mr. William Small, of
Swan Creek, and his brother-in-law, Mr. Edward Creer, of
Grafton, bought it from the co-operators, who were not sorry
to get some of their money back. A manager from the
Mauritius or West Indies was engaged, and the old building
"was newly equipped with rational appliances. The new
manager was considered a failure. He could not make sugar,
^nd the management was entrusted to Mr. Grey, who had
just arrived as chief engineer of the new steamer " City of
Grafton," from the Clyde. He worked tlie mill most suc-
cessfully, till it was closed for want of cane to operate on.
The C.S.R. Co.'s mill at Southgate, on the opposite side of
the river, being also closed, and removed about the same
time, and for the same reason^ — the persistent failure of the
cane crops on the upper course of the stream.
There were others who entered on the business with
various degrees of success. The farmers of Carr's Creek and
Carr's Island, a few miles above Grafton, established a very
well equipped little mill. But it shared the fate of almost
all attempts at co-operation in Australia, and ultimately
became the property of Mr. Thomas Bawden, of Grafton,
who then represented the Clarence in the Legislative
52 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Assembly. Mr. Martin, of Great Marlow, had a small mill
worked by horse-power. These were the only two sugar-
mills ever worked above Grafton, and they had to contend
with that curious climatic influence which, in Australia,
seems to forbid the sugar-cane to thrive anywhere beyond
the influence of the sea breeze. At Southgate, Mr. William
Leeson had a small mill, and did fairly well for many years
till the cane crops began to fail in his neighbourhood, though
he was heavily handicapped by the near neighbourhood of
" The Company's " large mill. Mr. Alec. Meston had a
sugar-mill at Ulmarra. He was a son of Archibald Meston,
one of the earliest among the pioneers of the New England
and Clarence districts. Alec. Meston has since removed to
the Richmond River. One of his neighbours at Ulmarra
was a Mr. Chowne, an old Plymouth shipwright, who had
been in tlie West Indies, and had there seen enough to show
him how sugar is made. His little mill was the nearest
copy he could manage of a West India sugar-house, and he
succeeded in making a very fair yellow sugar. There were
many others who tempted fortune in the same way with
varying success ; but the recital would be wearisome. It
is only interesting where the examples cited are typical of
classes, or characterised by some special peculiarity.
One such case is that of Mr. Kinnear, of Chatsworth
Island. Like Mr. Chowne, he was a shipwright. He hailed
from Clydesdale. He was one of the earliest selectors on
th^ Clarence, taking up the full area of 320 acres allowed
under Sir John Robertson's Act. In those days timber
was plentiful and good, and Mr. Kinnear made money by
ship and boat building, and farming as a sort of recreation.
When sugar promised to be a success, he planted cane and
put up a mill. He soon found, however, that if his mill
was to pay, he must have a great deal more cane to crush
than he could grow, without employing more labour than he
SCENES OF OLDER SYDNEY. 53
could profitably superintend or could well afford to pay for.
He let most of his uncleared land on improving leases,
paying for the timber when cut up and split for firewood.
He bound the tenants to grow a certain area of cane, which
he crushed for them " on the halves," and thus he killed
several birds with one stone — got his land cleared and cul-
tivated, firewood cut, and his mill supplied with cane on
terms mutually advantageous to all concerned.
These instances prove the truth that West Indian
-experience is almost useless in dealing with Australian sugar.
All the really good Australian managers, with perhaps two
exceptions, have been men with exclusively Australian
experience. Even the rare exceptions referred to, have had
to unlearn all they knew, and begin afresh to learn an
entirely new mode of manipulation. Australian bushmen,
like the Mestons ; shipwrights, like Messrs. Chowne and
Kinnear, are examples in point. Then there is Mr. Grey,
the newly-arrived engineer from the Clyde, and many
another like example. There is also the example of the
C.S.R. Co., which has always steadily set its face against
the rule of thumb expert from over the sea, and has trusted
to nothing but their own practical local experience and skill
with genuine scientific knowledge, to guide them.
But, to return to the scenes of older Sydney ! Why do they
so persistently refuse to fade from my memory ? Here I find
myself once more in 1852, in the old Bank of New South
Wales, in that dark, low and dismal building on the east
side of George-street, with the dingy grass plot in front of
it ; how unlike a modern bank it is to look at ! and yet
they made money there. Once more do I pore over those
ghostly old ledgers, rich in memories of embryo Australia
— crammed with bygone names, each folio with its little
story of surname, each one mingles somehow with the warp
and weft of early Sydney family life. Trustees of Launce-
54 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
lott Iredale, William Ranken Scott, Rueben XJthar, George
Swinnerton Yarn ton, R. and E. Tooth, John Yates Ruther,
R. A. A. Morehead, T. S. Mort, Herbert Salwey, VV. C.
Wentworth, R. R. C. Robertson, of Wellington Vale ;
John Smith, of Wallerawang ; C. R. and W. D. G. Haly ;
and time would fail me to tell of the Paytons, the Tittertons,
and of Tom Kite and of Elizabeth Beard, and of the times
when the wild red and white epacris could be found growing
two miles nearer to the General Post Office than they now can be.
Days when brave, manly, old family picknickers rowed
heavy boats full of girls in the teeth of north easters and
of southerly busters up and down the harbour, where steam
launches now save all the work ; brave old fellows who posted
bank ledgers in the day-time, and made their wives and
daughters happy with music in the evening, and who could
pull an oar and sail a boat with the best ; when they used
to give concerts in the big room of the Royal Hotel, and
when Tom Mort would be the funny man of his party there.
When " Simon the Cellarer " was the latest sensation in
bass songs, vice " The Standard Bearer " superseded (j^ro
tern.) Where is this race and breed of the Sydney bank
clerk now 1 It is extinct. You may search for it in vain
in Parramatta-street or in Redfern, for it sleeps at Camper-
down, looking out on the Ryde Hill ; sleeps at Devonshire-
street ; sleeps at Waverley and Rookwood. 1852 has passed
away. Forty odd years are not much, perhaps, in the history
of a place like England, but in Sydney, ye heavens, what a
tale they tell !
Old Times, what sort of memories round them cling !
Of hopes that blossom, warped, and died, in life's delightful
spring ;
The time of my childhood, the land of my prime,
All the passions and scenes of that rapturous time
When the feelings were young and the world was new.
Like the fresh bowers of Eden unopening to view.
SVDXEY BANKS AND BANKING. 55
1852 seems 500 years ago when one notes all the changes,
the progress, improvements, births, deaths, and marriages,
which have effaced so many old social and physical land-
marks. Quaint, hut-like cottages, set solitary in the sand,
snake-haunted scrub of Botany and North Shore, neatly
furnished, and inhabited by faded ladies of the Bourke and
Gipps era, have all been swept away to make room for
modern terraces. How bright a Sydney Sunday was in
1852. The clear sun, the chiming bells, the streams of well-
dressed, pretty girls, no matter whether it was winter at
Christchurch, with Canon Walsh, or summer with the Rev.
G. r. McArthur, at St. Mark's, Darling Point. The smell
of flowers was in the air. The bank ledgers were closed for
the day, and it was — Sydney ! Sydney ! that happy medium
between the chills of Hobart and the heats of Brisbane.
Sydney, with a remote touch of the tropics in its air at
times, and yet able to grow lilac and apples, and be akin to
the oak and elm-bearing lands of the earth.
To return to our dear old bank. The accountant, H. B.
Cotton, was a tall, thin, mercurial gentleman, who in office
hours wore a sort of long coat, and by way of relief to the
tedium of eternal figui'es he would at times strike an attitude
and quote Shakespeare, a proceeding which failed to meet
the approval of John Hunter Bailey, our Scotch Secretary,
a clever earne.st man, a connection of Dr. Lang's, but fore-
doomed by the phthisis to a too brief career of usefulness.
He checked his banking cough one day as he saw Cotton in
a Shakespearian attitude, and uttered the words, " Is this
sober earnestness in an accountant when there is a dis-
crepancy in the balance 1 " alluding to some calling over
that yet remained to be done over an undiscovered error,
and which Bailey thought should take precedence even of
Shakespeare.
Old John Black, the manager, lived on the premises.
56 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
which had not been constructed with that eye to the due
separation of banking and domestic concerns which obtains
now in the palatial banking houses. And it fell out one
day that Mr. Bailey, while absorbed in writing letters of
great importance to the London office, had his nerves shaken
by feeling a something unknown and decidedly out of its
place playing between his legs. The startled Secretary
(who was childless himself), suspended his pen in mid air,
dived under the office table, and beheld a half clothed cherub
(one of the junior Blacks) playing with the waste-paper
basket. How it ever got there was a mystery, but it evoked
this severe remark from the stern Scotch banking discip-
linarian — " Ye little neekid savage ! what are ye doing
here 1 " Old Mr. Black at times took the counter himself
if a teller were ill, and, as his eyesight was none too good,
he generally on those rare occasions paid away some odd
pounds too much to some dishonest cheque-cashers in the
course of a day, which loss he balanced with a sigh and a
dive into his own pocket for the sovereign ; for he cared not
to keep dinner waiting, had plenty of money and property,
and was not one to cry over spilt milk. I can see his wry
face, white hair and cravat, black dress suit and spectacles
(he never varied his costume) before me now as vividly as
in the earlier half of the century, a representative of the
old Sydney school that we shall never see again.
In that dingy old den of a bank, there was actually a
board room stowed away somewhere, and therein sat Rich-
ard Jones and Robert Firth ; Donald Larnach and George
Home ; William Rankin Scott and Joseph Scaif Willis j
and they were men of " pluck," for they bought over four
tons of gold for 50s. an ounce, well worth 75s. ; and this,
too, at a time when no one else in Australia would give
even that for it, for Australian and Californian people lost
their heads (outside of that board room) and felt sure that
A FEW FIGURES. 57
gold was going to be as plentiful as copper ; and the Adelaide
merchants packed up their wares, shut their warehouses,
and took the contents to Melbourne, and came back laden
with the yellow metal. At the dingy old den we kept a
weird-looking foreigner down in the cellar, who melted the
dust into bars for us. (I often played with the golden
dumb-bells to stretch my arms after too much ledgers.)
It was then that John Godfrey Cohen, in Sydney, Edward
Khull, in Melbourne, and a set of mining speculators
blossomed out as "gold brokers " and "highest price given
for rags, bones and bottles," or for " wool, wheat, tallow,
hides, and wattle-bark " were superseded by notices of an
extra 3d. here or 6d. there per ounce for gold from com-
peting brokers so as to snap up parcels for shipment and
•save exchange on bank drafts.
What a lot of the " old " early original Sydney there was
still left in 1852 ! And the faces that one then saw
across the counter that are now missing I Richard Jones, of
Moi'eton Bay, and Hovenden Hely ; Bob Fitzgerald and F.
B. Stephens ; Rev. Ralph Mansfield, Irving and R. M.
Roley ; Father K. Mann ; R. A. Hunt and Major Christie ;
E. Broadhurst, and E. Deas. Thomson — ^why go on 1 This
is not a directory ; and yet, primitive as the old Bank was
in 1852, it had grown a bit since 1849 ; in the first quarter
of which its modest record stood thus : — Notes circulated,
X34,519 ; deposits, £225,767; coin, £157,564; land, etc.,
£12,579 ; debts due for bills discounted, etc., £225,793 ;
and its assets were to its liabilities £401,528, to £260,286.
The " Union" and the Australasia both more than doubled
this record, and the " Commercial " was a good second to
the New South. The Joint Stock was not born till 1852.
"The " New South " paid £50 to an 8 per cent, dividend.
The Commercial, £3,237 to a 10 per cent, one, and the
Union £25,317 to a 6 per cent, one ; their reserve funds
58 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
being — New South, £17,l;iO; Commercial, £993 (how these
two boys have grown since 3 1st Marcli, 1849) ; Australasia,
£53,451 ; and Union, £77,930. In the early days coin was
kept more in the Colonial Treasury and the Military chest
(as it was called) than in the banks, and up to 1837 the
banks were in the minority for coin holding, for in that
year the Colonial Treasury held £245,250 in coin, against a
total of £182,182 held by all the banks.
Talking of banks, the Union of Australia started in
1837 (twenty years after the "New South,") and was so
well supported in London that every share was taken up
without even being publicly advertised. Its first essay was
a junction with the Tamar Bank, at Launceston (V.D.L ),
then a branch at Hobart. Then followed branches at
Sydney, Melbourne, and New Zealand, in the order named.
The Australasia started in 1835, but its early progress
was marred by the insolvent Bank of Australia getting
heavily into its debt in 1843 ; but by 1849 it was far ahead
of all other banks in the magnitude of its transactions,
though it still could pay no dividend owing to the cause
just mentioned. As a proof of the " booms " and collapses
that occurred even in the early days, I may mention that
from 1834 to 1848 a duty of 30 per cent, was charged in
Sydney on auction sales, which jumped from £513,388 in
1839 to £1,246,742 in 1840, and down to £310,831 in 1844.
Liens on wool and mortgages on stock shewed equally curious
fluctuations between '43 and '46.
Enough of statistics. Let us return to the old Bank.
Abram Black and P. W. Flower banked there and
elsewhere too, for they had plenty of spare money to
lodge, albeit that one " strong room " was a mere iron box,
or room with thin walls, and thieves would have found it
without fire or thief-proof doors had it been attacked, and
John Russell (brother of Peter Nicol R., iron-founder, of
CRUMBLING CONCERNS. 59"
that ilk), often carae over to it and fixed it up. He it was-
who went to a fancy ball in Sydney in a suit of armour of
his own make. Our bank staff then included Robert
Woodhouse, John Ponsford, Luke Clarence Garling, William
CoUey Lang, Samuel Nasmith, John Evans, and so on down
to old Byron Drury, the night watchman, who had seen
some bayonet charges in his young days, and feared no mid-
night burglars, though there were none in 18.52, for money
was too easily got then for people to want to thieve much.
Trade expanded enormously. One big firm who supplied
most of the public houses in Sydney used to pay in £1000
a day in greasy bank notes, gold, silver, and copper, and
they had another account at the Australasia as well, or
(as we clerks used to call it in those days), the Goliath, and
huge bank drafts for £30,000 and the like found their way
from us to foreign parts, and came back in the shape of
cargoes of tea and sugar from China and Manilla, sent for
by people, too, who never before had been in that line, but
who were not going to miss the golden chance of coining
money at that busy season ; all done on bills, too, which
were punctually met at maturity later on. You could not
go wrong then in buying anything, land, houses, merchan-
dise, or what not, it all went up and up in price, the exception
being station property, for there was no carriage for wool,
all teams being taken up for the diggings, and all hands all
clearing to the gold fields.
The crumbling of these big banks has been a matter of
slow and sure growth. For many years the cobra and white
ant of finance have been secretly at work where all looked
sound and stout outside ; in the days of the bygone, John
Smith, squatter, of New South Wales (we will say), wanted
to buy some .50,000 acres of his run, and it was managed
by a stroke of the pen ; no money passed, but a debit went
in the bank ledger to John Smith, and a credit to the
'60 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
"Colonial Treasurer ; and this sort of thing was repeated in
the case of Thomas Brown, another *' pastoral tenant of the
Crown," and many more of them, but still no coin passed,
Tt was all on paper, so to speak, till at last one day the
Colonial Treasurer wanted some of his million sterling, and
then, you see, John Smith's security was not quite so sale-
able as it might have been, and it became necessary to sell
up some country storekeepers, who had sperm candles,
galvanised iron, American axes, flour, and other articles
that really were convertible into money. And then meet-
ings of creditors and liquidators by arrangement swarmed
in the land, and people said " times are bad, but we have
touched bottom now." Yet it was not so. The rabbits,
drought, and compound interest had a " cut in " at the
game, but still the assets and advances looked well on paper,
and then, by Jove, you know ! the labour party took a hand
in the deal, and foreign depositors at last began to " look
askew " in real earnest. Another presto ! something
happened which made all hands, except, perhaps, bank
shareliolders, squirm. If the crash liad come mercifully
ten years earlier, when assets were more marketable, and
when Baring Brothers and others were still " riglit side up,"
it would have been all right. Everyone wished that
advances had been more " spread " and distributed, only
on securities which came in from one to four times in each
year. And now let us review matters a little.
In 1851 gold was discovered, and gazetted on May 10th,
in Sydney. Capital and labour had worked together up to
then, but labour cleared out at once and left his master's
sheep and calves to the dingoes and eagle hawks. The
sailor left his ship, the carpenter his bench and his contract,
and capital was left lamenting without warning, considera-
tion, or apology, and "capital" never forgot it. Afterwards
— when the wheel of fortune had made anotlier round — he.
FACING THE MUSIC. 61
in turn, grew selfish; he was "on top" in 1853. On a popu-
lation of some 200,000 Victoria raised £9,000,000 sterling
in gold, and, in 1856, £12,000,000, or equal to £40 for
every soul of her then population. This was more than she
needed for currency, and it went home. But this did not
last, and now N. S. Wales could barely find her own gold-
field, or supply her own coin x'equirements ; but Queensland
raised £5 worth of gold yearly for every soul in her borders,
and should certainly try to keep enough of it on hand to
vary the monotony of too much paper and greenbacks in
the near future. Trade is not what it was, and the English
"rings " have " sat upon " Australia. Tin was worth £130
a ton till we found it here, and the " ring " dropped it
permanently to £90 ; copper from £90 to £45. Bismuth
and silver fell also, for fear that Australia should grow too
rich, and wool travelled from Is. 6d. down to 7d., flour
from £50 to £11, and white sugar can now be got for the
price we once paid for dark.
Everything that Australia produces except gold has
shrunk terribly in value, and we must " face the music "
and meet the altered times with some better weapons than
strikes, phantom reserve funds, reconstruction, on the
" family party system " and other modern-time blunders ;
and we must especially pray to be delivered from all
reconstruction that only covers up old sores and that fails
to use a surgical knife that would cut right off with heroic
fortitude all bad debts, and start fair and square again.
If not we sliall break down and pull up lame before we are
once round the course. Heaps of capital and confidence
were both annihilated wholesale in years gone by througli
an idiotic anti-kanaka crusade.
And so it has come to pass at the close of the nineteenth
century we witness the spectacle of men who have toiled
Note. — The above was penned at the time of the financial crisis of 1893. — Editor.
•62 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
all their lives to amass a little current business money being
asked to convert it into shares, and pay the impounders
thereof interest for the use of it ; the said impounders
having now murdered all the confidence which once "greased
the wheels " of commerce, and giving nothing whatever by
way of substitute for it. They asked people to convert
their current business cash into the shares of a new "bank"
that has neither written off the bad debts, nor foresworn
tlie sins of its parent and progenitor bank ; and what is
perhaps still worse, our Australian parliaments do not care
to face the task of probing the piled up banking blunders
of the past twenty-five years, the result being that the
facilities which at one time helped trade along have dis-
appeared, and without any removal of the old cancers to
■compensate tlie loss. How will it all end 1 We .should pull
through it all, terrible as the amount of dirt in the stable
is, if people kept the ten commandments within the next
twenty-five years, and refrained from coveting and stealing,
and laboured for six days in the week, and so on. But —
will they 1 We shall see.
I can understand bad times in a place like England,
which cannot grow all its own meat and meal ; or I could
understand bad times in early Australian days, before the
wilderness was subdued, and in the last century. But when
I came to Australia in the "forties" a man with £100 a
year was "passing rich," with bread and meat at Id. a lb.,
eggs and butter 4d. the dozen and lb., and so forth, and
plenty of good colonial tweed and leather to make clothing
from. There were no " Boards of Health " or " zymotic
diseases," or poison germs with long scientific names ending
in " oid " floating around in those days. It was all gum
trees and ozone. " Homespun " was the style both indoors
and out, and as with Australia so with America. In the
primitive days when men lived on pork and beans, there
THE REMEDY. 63
■were no dreadful social and political problems to solve, no
terrible suicides and embezzlements to report and shudder
at. But when $100 broadcloth suits and .$1000 diamond
rings came into fashion, and whisky bars to boot, then the
*' trouble " began.
The gold discovery in California in 1849, and in Aus-
tralia in 1851, sent the whole civilised world on a new track
of luxury such as the fathers of that generation never
■dreamt of. I was one of the early rush to California from
these colonies in 1849 with a cargo of produce, and of course
all the sailors Vjolted on arrival, and I had to employ five
American ship captains to unload my lot. They had all
lost their own crews, and had nothing to do meantime, and
so they worked like men for $10 a day in unloading boxes
of Australian potatoes and planks of Australian timber into
the steam scow. They were not proud. They were of the
old American Connecticut stamp, and they wore jackets of
green baize such as bakers' hot I'olls are covered with afc
home. They belonged to the " pork and beans " section
and era of the American community, and my money was as
good to them as any other man's. We talk of bad times in
Australia, yet the country grows all the food we eat and
clothes we wear, or could do so, or ought to do so, or, if
this be not the case yet, let us then learn to consume less
variety, or else to make Australia grow it all. England
never could do this for herself. We talk of bad times while
the champagne and sardines class of luxuries figure so
largely in our list of imports ! It is clear we cannot afford
to pay for these things, so let us leave off importing super-
fluities, and then see how soon the bad times would
disappear.
There has been too much of the sudden "jump up" in
Australia — the mother, for instance, at the wash-tub and
the daughter at the piano, the father shouldering the hod
64 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
of bricks and the son driving a buggy and " putting on
side." One generation is not enough to carry over
such a metamorphosis ; it would need to filter through three
or four of them in order to be a plant to take permanent
root. The very fact of our importing our domestic female
servants is a proof and outward sign of our unsoundness
in political economy ; the daughters of the small yeoman
class, born in the country^ should form its domestic servants
the same as they do in Great Britain, and are the only good
sort obtainable. As to the quality of the imjDorted article,
you can search the pages of the various Australian
"Punches." But it is the old story with most of us ; we
miust have luxuries, and cannot be content with necessaries
only. Take the burglar who breaks into our house ; does
he (in one case out of 500) do it to feed starving babies at
home % Not he, he does it in order to spend the proceeds
(heavily discounted beforehand by the receiA^ng " fence ")
in some wretched orgie in a den of infamy. Our very bur-
glar must have his " luxuries." If people would but dispense
with all superfluities, be they ever so "good for trade ;" if
men in bush and town would but take their wages home on
Saturday nights and not want to be pulled home by their
wives at 11 p.m. ; if people would eschew imported luxuries
and till their bellies and clothe their backs solely with the
rich and glorious abundance of colonial produce, we should
not need to care to know how the bullion stood in the bank,
or whether that terrible institution had any contidence in
us or did the other thing ; whether the " balance of trade "
or " drain of bullion " were with us or against us. We
should laugh at " panics," knowing that we could not
possibly eat sovereigns and bank notes, but that with plenty
of Adelaide flour, Albury wine, Ipswich tweed, and so forth^
we were enjoying blessings which we should be a great deal
more grateful foi", if those confounded phases of style con-
Hon. W. C. Wentwokth. Hon. E. Deas-Thomson.
Major-Generai. L. Macquarie.
Sir John Hay. Sir Charles Cowter.
THE REMEDY, 65
sequent on the gold era had not so unsettled our brains that
we don't know when we are well off, and sigh for all sorts
of unattainable and needless luxuries ; the dulness of our
small colonial townships forms a much greater grievance for
a man of intellect to contend with, than any sameness of
food question does, and to it alone can be attributed the
extent to which many a good man, who would hold his own
in Sydney or London, or any other centre of intellect, and ,
never fall, flies to the arms of Dr. Martell or Dr. James
Hennessy for consolation, and learns, too late, what kind of
an article in that line they dispense. And yet, a country
town in Australia is no duller than one in England.
The gold discovery Imsiness is about played out now in
America and Australia ; M'e have derived some solid benefits
from it in the shape of vested wealth, so let us hold on to
them all we can, and not let them go ; and the best way
to do this, is to drop, at once and for ever, all the habits
of luxury that came in with the zenith of the gold times,
and return to the primitive days of 1849 as regards our
ideas of style and expenditure. We should then soon think
and see hoiv rich, not how poor, we are.
Where is the enchantress so potent as Memory 1 Not
Circe, nor Thalaba, nor Ormandine can weave so sweet a
spell around us. In a moment, in a dream, a few music
notes of an old sweet simple tune, unheard and forgotten
since the dear dead mother or grandam sang us to sleep
with it half-a-century before — come back unbidden, and lo !
a veil is lifted. The shifted scene of old Father Time slides
back again for a brief space, and the lump in our throat
rises simultaneously with a delicious and reckless excite-
ment and glamour as we are once more intoxicated, in sober
old age, with one maddening glimpse of
The home of our chiUlhood, the haunts of our prime,
P
66 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
And then the young wife takes up the parable of music
for us where the mother and grandam have dropped it, and,
despite the baby, her skilled fingers, trained by constant
" exercises," render us the masterpieces of the French and
German school, with Italy and Hungary thrown in.
Why should Memory die 1 Why should the past glide
from us and be forgotten 1 How dearer now it seems than
it did when it was with us and was called " the present ! "
Long live Memory, say I, for nought else in heaven or earth
can compare with its sweet litheness, its tender magic, with
the music that comes to us again in dreams ; music which
in warm life played to us in the years that glowed and
faded so long ago. Enough. Let me pass from the general
to the particular — from the abstract to the concrete, and
regard, with my mind's eye, the men whom Wentworth's
genius decreed should form the first real Parliament of
Australia, drawn from all the eastern half of the continent.
How bright and young were Australia and ourselves then !
Can it be that so many of them are now not here 1 Plun-
kett, Murray, Martin, Lang, Darvall, Arnold Holt, Henry
Piddington, Nicholson, Cowper, Donaldson — not to mention
the northern men : Macalister and CribVj. Ay, the inexor-
able scythe hath been mowing, and old Sydney sufFereth a
change ; and the sepulchres are fuller and the living who
sprang from the dead abound and are more and more with
us. Above all Memory -still lives, and they live with her,
God bless Memory, say I, for what were life without her.
But what of these early men whose genius and ability are
in memory green spots of the past ! Draw back the curtain
of time, and let us see.
->^^M-<^
CHAPTER IV. "^
The Curtain of Time drawn back— Early Men of Mark —
Their Deeds of History — Major-General Macqctarie —
His Period of Governorship — William Forster— A
Literary Legislator — A Marked Career — Edward Deas-
Thomson — William Charles Wentworth— The Father
OF THE Constitution.
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie, Fifth Governor
OF New South Wales.
ACHLAN MACQUARIE was born in
Scotland in 1768. He Joined the army
at the early age of eighteen ; in course
of time he became lieutenant-colonel in
the 73rd regiment. When news reached
, . u, the Secretary for the Colonies of the
<vJ.^doings of the New South Wales Corps and
-' the deposition of Governor Bligh, Lord
■Castlereagh looked about for a man possessed of firmness
and decision to take up the reins of Government of New
South Wales, then in a state approaching anarchy. His
choice fell upon Lieutenant-Colonel Macquarie. Mac-
quarie took up his new office on December 28th, 1809,
and one of his first acts was to despatch the New
South Wales Corps to India with a detachment of the
73rd regiment. After this he bent his energies to put
the institutions of the country in fair working order.
This proved no easy task, for he had to fight against
vested interest, which had arisen under the rule of
former governors. At this time the colony was in a sad
68 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
state of poverty. Sydney practically consisted of a number
ojp huts and tents, and, as might be expected from the class
of people who then formed the population, vice of every
kind was rampant. The population totalled 11,590 persons,,
nearly the whole of them being made up of officials and
convicts. He declared null and void all the actions of the
officers of the New South Wales Corps in connection with
the deposition of Governor Bligh. Floods on the Hawkes-
bury had brought destitution on the farmers in that district.
The Governor paid the district a visit and took active
measures to relieve the distress, distributing relief where
necessary, and, by his assistance and sympathy, revived the
spirits of the settlers. He had marked out, sites for town-
ships, and gave the settlers allotments for residences as well
as for cultivation. He supplied them too with stock on
the easiest terms. He then commenced the making of roads-
and the erection of bridges wherever they were likely to be
of use, and might lead to settlement. At this time there
existed a beaten track between Sydney and Parramatta, a
portion of which is now George-street. This road was sub-
sequently continued on to Windsor, and from being a
miserable cart track was soon made into as fine a road as
could be desired anywhere. He then commenced the road
over the Blue Mountains from Sydney to Bathurst, a distance
of one hundred and thirty miles — a stupendous work at that
time, and, indeed, would be considered a work of considerable
magnitude in the present day. It may be mentioned that
it was not until 181.3 that the feat of crossing the Blue
Mountains was accomplished by William Charles Went-
worth, Gregory Blaxland, and William Lawson, and the
famous Bathurst plains thereby opened up for settlement.
If Governor Macquarie was more remarkable for one thing
than another, it was for the way in which he caused public
buildings to be erected, not only in Sydney, but in all the
GOVERNOR MACQUARIE. 69
towns of the colony. Courtliouses, churches, hospitals,
gaols, barracks — all were built under his direction. The
present Parliament houses of New South Wales, the Sydney
mint, Hyde Park barracks, now used for various court
purposes, and the present Supreme Courthouse among the
rest. In fact he erected no less than two hundred and
three public buildings in the colony, in addition to forty-
seven built in Van Diemen's Land.
Governor Macquarie's manner of dealing with the convict
population was humane in comparison with his pi'ede-
cessors. He believed that punishment should be meted out
to the convict with a view to deter him from crime as well
as to punish him for the commission of it. A parliamentary
committee appointed to inquire into transportation, in 1812,
paid a high tribute to the efforts made by the Governor in
this direction. He had to suffer, it is true, the enmity of
the class who had resigned their posts in the New South Wales
Corps when that body was ordered to India— a class who
thought that the colony and the convicts were made for
their special use, and abuse too. Before his departure from
the colony, this section of the community preferred certain
complaints against him. But his manly and straightforward
defence was a complete refutation of the charges. He
described the condition of the colony on his arrival, explained
what he had done, and then set out the state in which he
had left the colony. The population had increased more
than threefold, and prosperity and progress existed every-
where. Property and stock had increased tenfold. The
revenue increased nearly fourfold, and public buildings and
roads were to be seen in all parts of the colony. These
facts were plain and unanswerable.
Before his departure from the colony he became Major-
General, and was presented with a gold cup by the inhabi-
tants as a protest against the calumnies of a few of their
70 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
number, and as evidence of the popularity and esteem in
which he was held. Governor Macquarie's rule commenced
28th December, 1809, and ended 1st December, 1821. He
left Sydney loth February, 1822, and died in London 1st
July, 1824.
The Honourable William Forster.
Among the men who, in the early days of responsible
government, formed, and moulded the public life of the
colony, none is more deserving of notice than that of the
late William Forster.
William Forster was born at Madras in 1818 ; he
arrived in Sydney when eleven years old. He was, like
most of the leading men of his day, educated by Mr. W.
T. Cape. After completing his education he went into the-
interior of the colony, and entered on squatting pursuits.
While thus engaged he followed up his literary work, and
supplied many contributions to the Sydney press dealing
with the political questions which then agitated the public
mind. He took the side of the squatters, and, in an able
and most effective way, defended their rights. He strongly
opposed the action of Sir George Gipps and his regulations
respecting the pastoral interests. About this time Sir
James Martin was editor of the Atlas, and Mr. Forster
published a clever satire, entitled, " The Devil and the
Governor." In it the following passage occurred : —
" I grant you the praise you've fairly won
By the deeds you do and the deeds you've done ;
I know that as causes corrupt the mind
Like the chains hy which tyrants have crushed mankind.
That the blighting touch of a despot's rod
Kills in man's spirit the breath of God.
Tliat the pui-pose he bade your race fulfil
Is not for the meek slave's fettered will,
WILLIAM FORSTER. 71 '
That the cherishing light of the holy skies
Falls barren and vain upon servile eyes,
That the weeds of evil will thrive their best
^Yhere the fair shoots of nature are clipped and drest ;
Yes, under those climes where the poisonous brood
Of error is nursed by solitude —
Where souls are bowed by the weight they bear.
Where their moral sky looks dark, and their air
Is thick with the filth that bondage breeds,
I scatter my foul and fertile seeds — •
Where most I am bent on man's undoing
The tyrant assists my work of ruin."
This at once brought him into prominence as a man
possessed of no mean critical ability, and it bore testimony to
a cultured and refined literary cast of mind. He wrote,
among other poems, a sonnet on Russia : —
" 'Twixt east and west a giant shape she grew,
To both akin, and making both afraid.
Casting a lurid shadow on the new
And ancient world, her greedy eyes betrayed
The tiger's heart, and ominously surveyed
The people destined for her future prey ;
From Polar steppes and ice-encumbered seas
To where the warm and blue Symplegades
Darken the splendour of a ( Irecian day.
She stretched her long grasp, conquering by degrees ;
And, when at length the banded nations rose
In armed resistance, their combined array
With equal arms she shrunk not to oppose,
But bravely stood, as still she stands, at bay."
On the attainment of Responsible Grovernment, Mr. Forster
sat in the House as member for the Murray electorate. At
other times he represented East Sydney, St. Leonards, The
Hastings, Queanbeyan, Illawarra, The Murrumbidgee, and
Gundagai. He commenced as a supporter of the Cowper
Ministry. He, however, opposed their education policy,
72 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
being in favour of a purely secular system. Having
ousted the Administration, he was called upon to form a
Government. He succeeded in getting together a Ministry,
in which Mr. Saul Samuel (now Sir Saul) became Colonial
Treasurer, Mr. John Black, Minister for Lands; Mr. Geoffrey
Eagar, Minister for Works, Mr. E. Wise (afterwards Judge
of the Supreme Court) Attorney-General, and Mr. J. F. Har-
grave (afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court) Solicitor-
General. M r. Forster's cabinet remained in power till March,
1860. It was then defeated on its Upper House Electoral
Bill, and was succeeded by the Robertson-Covvper Ministry.
When Sir James Martin formed his Ministry in 1863, Mr.
Forster was offered and accepted the position of Colonial
Secretary. The Ministry lasted until February, 1865, when
they were defeated on their protectionist proposals. In
October, 1868, he is found taking office as Minister for
Lands under Sir John (then Mr.) Robertson, when he
resigned in 1870. He again took office with Sir John
Robertson in February, 1875, In October of that year he
left for England as Agent-General, an office then held by
Sir Charles Cowper, vvhose health, however, had incapacita-
ted him from fully performing the duties. He was tendered
a banquet, which took place at the Town Hall, a large num-
ber of his fellow colonists, of all shades of opinion, being
present to do him honour.
Sir Charles Cowper having died in 1876, Mr. Forster
received the appointment, which position he held till the
end of 1880, when he was recalled by the Parkes Govern-
ment. Sir Saul Samuel, the present Agent-General, was
appointed to the post. Mr. Forster returned to Sydney in
the early part of 1881. He found on his arrival that he
had been elected to a seat in the Legislative Assembly for
the electorate of Gundagai. He took his seat on the oppo-
sition side of the House, the Parkes Ministry being then
WILLIAM PORSTER. 73
in office. Some time before his return to the colony, the
question of his removal from tlie office of Agent-General
was debated in the House, as it was considered by a large
section of the people and parliament that a great injustice
had been done to him by his removal from the Agent-
Generalship. It was said that the principal cause of his
removal was a bold, if imprudent letter which he addressed
to Sir Henry Parkes. It was at the same time acknow-
ledged by even liis political opponents that he filled the
office in a most efficient manner. During the later years
he attended to his parliamentary duties, and although recog-
nised as the leader of tlie Opposition he never asserted the
right to the position. The question of the opening of the
museum and library on Sunday came up for discussion at this
time. Mr. Forster took a prominent part in the debate, being
a champion of secular education. In his speech on a motion
affirming the desirability of opening these institutions on
Sundays, he said, " I do not record the vote which I am
about to give on any religious sanction. I do not say but
that I respect them, or that I am without religious sanction
for the votes which I am about to give ; but it seems to me
that in this particular case a view more consistent with
public opinion, and the tendency of the colony may be
taken. It appears to me that the main object of this reso-
lution is that it proposes to make use of the Government
and of our public institutions to enforce dogma — to enforce
a particular view of a religious question. I am not one of
those who, as it has been assumed, repudiate the institution
of tlie Sabbath as a day of rest for the working man, but I
do protest against a particular view of this day of rest being
enforced by the authority of the Government or of Parlia-
ment ; and it is upon this ground that I protest against
this resolution. I object to the House or the Govei'nment
being called upon to enforce, through the authority of public
74 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
bodies, any doctrine so inconsistent with our previous ten-
dency — with the course which we have taken in public
affairs from the time responsible government was instituted.
We have abolished State aid — we have announced to the
world that we have no national religion — that religion is a
thing to be left to the consciences of the people, and not to-
be controlled by the authority of the State. We have, I
am told, adopted secularism in our national schools, though
I do not think they are thoroughly secular. It seems to
me that the teaching in the public schools embodies a good
deal of dogmatic theology ; and I hope the time will come
when we shall go on in the path in which we have hitherto
trodden, and that we shall make our public schools thoroughly
secular. A country which has adopted this policy, which
boasts that it has gone ahead of the mother country in
lilieral views, would be thoroughly disgraced by adopting a
resolution of tliis kind. To carry this resolution would
simply be a triumph of narrow sectarianism, of a spirit
altogether opposed to that of our institutions, to the course
which the colony has taken hitherto. I hope the House will
not take this retrogade step, but if honourable members
should assent to the motion, I have no doubt that their
action will be reversed before long. Any Government
which relies for support upon narrow sectaiian feeling will
rely on a broken reed ; and however strong the present
Government may be, they will put their strength to a very
dangerous test if they venture to base it on any support
like this." Although in favour of secular education, he
strongly championed denominational independence, which
he considered " the only bulwark we had against the very
worst despotism — the despotism of democracy."
When the news of his death was announced to the House^
regret for the event and admiration for his high character
and great abilities were expressed from all sides of the House^
WILLIAM FORSTER. 75-
Sir Henry Parkes, who was Premier at the time, and a most
uncompromising opponent of the deceased, spoke as fol-
lows : — " It is my painful duty to move what had
become the practice of this House — that the House adjourn
in respect to his memory. The name of Mr. William
Forster had been before the public of the colony for over
thirty years. I think it is thirty yeai's since, sitting in that
gallery, I heard Mr. Wentworth, in one of his great speeches,,
make a long quotation from one of Mr. Forster's satires.
I became acquainted with Mr. Forster on the very tirst day
of the meeting of the tirst Parliament, and though it might
surprise younger and newer members of that House,
for several years I lived on the most cordial terms of rela-
tionship with him as a member of the House together with
my honourable friend behind me — Sir John Robertson.
We worked together in the early years of responsible
government, and our votes were recorded on the same side
in almost every struggle. I therefore had opportunities of
judging of the value of the late member equal to those of
any other meml)er of the House. I heard his first speech,
I saw all his early struggles, I witnessed all his actions on both
sides of the House from first to last. Mr. Forster had now
passed away across that dividing line which effaces all per-
sonal dissensions, and in watching his figure retiring into the
land of shadows, we can only remember the services he has
rendered here. Not only was he a contributor to our public
political literature of very considerable eminence, but when
he tirst l)ecame a member of this House in 1856 he devoted
himself to the movement for the extension of political privi-
leges. It is not generally known in our day, but it is a fact
known to many, that he was the originator of the Electoral
Act. It was he who suggested nearly all the most essential
provisions of the measure, which afterwards, under the aus-
pices of Mr. Cowper and my honourable friend behind me — Sir
76 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
John Robertson — passed into law. We all of us know with
what intimate acquaintance with the circumstances of the
country, with what a fearless examination of the public
business of parliament, with what fearless opposition to all
abuses, with what steadiness of purpose, he supported every
cause which he once espoused ; with what sleepless vigour
he opposed anything which he believed to be wrong. We
all know those striking distinguishing qualities in the late
member. We all of us see, I am quite sure, and acknow-
ledge, that there cannot be higher qualities in a representa-
tive of the people in this or any other land. Mr. Forster
has now passed for ever from our ranks, and neither this
House nor any other Legislature can well afford to lose a
member so distinguished in education, so distinguished in
practical knowledge of this country, and so distinguished
by ability to give effect to what he believed. We, there-
fore, not only deplore his sudden death, and offer our best
consolation to his bereaved friends, but we mourn what is
indeed a great public loss, and a loss to the representative
quality of this House." This graceful tribute was well
received by the House.
The leader of the Opposition, the late Sir Alexander
Stuart, followed, and said: — "I rise with no ordinary feel-
feelings of sorrow to second the motion of the Colonial
Secretary. In the death of Mr. Forster we are called upon
to mourn one who can be ill spared at this juncture. Even
those who have most keenly felt his invective or his caustic
sarcasm will acknowledge that in the loss of Mr. Forster
we lose a man of great ability, a man of cultured intellect,
and a man who could, and did make himself heard on every
question affecting the public welfare of the colony since
ever he took part in public life. If such are the feelings
■of his public foes, 1 can hardly express the feelings with
which we, on this side of the House, learned of the depar-
EDWARD DEAS-THOMSON. 77'
ture of our friend. We feel that we have lost our brightest
ornauient. Our greatest champion is laid low ; his voice is
no longer heard ; and we feel that our greatest debater has
gone from us — one whom, not only we, but the whole country,
can ill afibrd to lose."
Although Mr. Forster was a politician — indeed the title
of statesman might be applied to him more than to most of
the politicians of New South Wales — still it cannot be said
that he was a 'p7-actical politician. He was most difficult to
deal with in a ministry. He was more a critic than an
administrator.
Sir Edward Deas-Thomson, C.B., K.C.M.G.
Generally speaking, the old Imperial officials who practi-
cally governed the colony in its early days, proved themselves
antagonistic to the inhabitants and threw obstacles in the
way whenever the people endeavoured to obtain some of
the popular privileges to which they considered themselves
entitled. It is pleasing now to look back upon the work of
Sir. E. Deas-Thomson, who could not by any means be in-
cluded in this category. Whilst scrupulously fulfilling the
duties imposed upon him by his high and responsible office,
he never forgot that the people had rights. Sir Edward.
Deas-Thomson was born in Edinburgh June 1st, 1800, and
was educated at the high school of that city ; he also spent
some time at Harrow, and finished at Caen, in France. He
was for a few years in a mercantile house, and at a later
period he introduced the system of double entry into the
book-keeping accounts in the office of the Accountant-General
of the Navy, his father holding that position at tlie time. In
1828 he was appointed to the position of Clerk of the Council
in New South Wales. He arrived in Sydney on the 24th
December, 1828. Five years after, he married the second-
daughter of Sir Richard Bourke, who was then Governor-
78 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
of the colony. In 1837 he was appointed to the position
of Colonial Secretary and Registrar of Records, at the
same time he was made a member of the Legislative Coun-
cil, also a member of the Executive Council The first
Council under the "Constitution Act of 1842-43" was
inaugurated by Mr. Deas-Thomson. From this up to the
time of the new constitution, he held the position of Colonial
Secretary, giving the greatest satisfaction to all parties in
the country.
Considering that Mr. Deas-Thomson held almost despotic
power, being next to the Governor, it is evident that he
filled the ofiice which he held with the utmost impartiality.
It can be said of him that he made no enemies throughout
the whole course of his career. When the committee was
appointed to draw up the draft of the New Constitution,
Mr. Deas-Thomson's name was found alongside that of W.
C. Wentworth, and throughout the whole of the agitation
it is remarkable that he took the side of the people in their
endeavours to obtain the privileges they sought. And on
the passing of the " Constitution Act " by the Legislative
Council, he was chosen, with Mr. Wentworth, to proceed to
England and watch its passage through the British Parlia-
ment. At this time he obtained two years' leave of absence
from the colony, and was appointed a commissioner to the
Paris exhibition in 1855. He retired from ofiice just after
his arrival from the old country in 1856. At the first
election under the " New Constitution Act," Mr. Deas-
Thomson was one of the first requisitioned to come forward
for one of the city constituencies. But his health not being
good he declined the honour sought to be conferred. He
however accepted a seat in the Upper House, and was
appointed the representative of the Government in that
cliamber. Mr. Deas-Thomson took an active part in the
passing of the Act founding the University of Sydney, and
WILLIAM CHARLES WENTWORTH. 79
was one of its first senators. Those appointed to act with
hiui in 1854 were A. J. Hamilton, E. Broadhurst, J. B.
Darvall, Stuart A. Donaldson, A. Denison, J. Macarthur,
F. L. S. Merewether, B. O'Brien, J. H. Plunkett, W. C.
Wentworth, Justice Therry, Rev. W. B. Boyce, Right Rev.
C. H. Davis, and Sir Charles Nicholson, the first Chan-
cellor being Sir Charles Nicholson. The first degrees were
conferred in 1857, A. Renwick, C. Sutling, and W. Sutling
receiving the degree of B.A. In 1859 Messrs. M. Burdekin,
W. C. Curtis, R. M. Fitzgerald, E. Lee, D. S. Mitchell, W.
C. Windeyer, T. W. Johnson, and T. Kinloch had conferred
upon them the degree of Master of Arts. In 1866 the
LL.D. degree was conferred on Messrs. J. S. Patterson and
G. H. Stanley ; the LL.B. degree in 1867 on Mr. F. E.
Rodgers ; that of MB. in 1867 on Mr. P. Smith ; and that
of M.D. in 1868 on Mr. C. F. Goldsbrough. In 1865 Sir
Edward Deas-Thomson was elected Chancellor of the Uni-
versity, which position he retained till April, 1878, retiring-
then owing to failing health. He received the honour of
knighthood in 1874, having been made a Commander of
the Bath in 1856. His death took place IGth July, 1879.
William Charles Wentworth.
William Charles Wentworth has sometimes been alluded
to, as incomparably the greatest man appearing in the
annals of Australian politics, and one of the few men
mentioned in Nev/ South Wales history worthy the title of
" statesman." Certainly, considering the circumstances of
his surroundings during his public career, the greatness of
the man must be acknowledged. The immense amount of
labour which he gave to the crowning work of his life— the
founding of the Constitution — is striking testimony to this.
William Charles Wentworth was born at Norfolk Island in
1791, his father being at the time the surgeon-superintendent
80 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
of that Island. He was sent to England when seven years-
old to be educated. Young Wentworth's father left Norfolk
Island in 1805 — at the time of the breaking-up of the
establishment there. He was appointed principal surgeon
on his arrival in New South Wales, and afterwards held,
the position of Road Trustee, Treasurer and Superintendent
of Police, and Magistrate of the Colony. When young.
Wentworth was twenty -two years of age he joined Messrs.
Lawson and Blaxland in that exploring expedition which
led to the discovery of the pass over the Blue Mountains
and the Bathurst Plains. The young pioneers suffered con-
siderable hardships while exploring the pass and the then,
unknown regions beyond. The great benefits bestowed on
the colony by the opening up of the vast interior can
scarcely be adequately gauged at the present day. He left
the colony for England in 1817 with a view of reading for
the Bar. He entered as a student at Cambridge, and whilst
there he published his " Description of New South Wales,"
which drew the attention of the British public to the young
colony. The book was well written, and ran through several
editions in a few years. About four years later he competed
for the Chancellor's Medal for the best English poem on
Australasia. This production took only second place, W.
Mackworth Praed, afterwards so well known in literary
circles, taking first honours. On leaving Cambridge he was
called to the Bar, and returned to Sydney, being admitted
there in 1824. It may be well to mention in this con-
nection that up to the time of Mr. Wentworth's admission
to the Bar, both branches of the legal profession had right
of audience in the Supreme Court, but, on his admission, he
and Dr. Wardell moved for a division. Messrs. Norton,
Allen, Chambers, Garling, Rowe, and Moore appeared for
the other branch, and Chief Justice Forbes ruled in favour
of the lower branch. In 1827 the division was made by
W. C. WENTWORTH. 81
the judges allowing all practising to choose which branch
they preferred to follow. Mr. Wentworth brought out with
him from England material for the printing of a news-
paper, which he called the Australian, Dr. Wardell and
himself being co-editors. The first number of this paper
appeared on October 14th, 1824, At that time, it must be
borne in mind, there were simply two classes in the colony
— the Governor, with Crown-appointed officials who were
practically responsible to nobody, and the convict class.
The generous young Australian and future statesman on
many occasions sided with the oppressed. In October, 1824,
the first civil jury was empanelled at Liverpool by Chief
Justice Forbes. In the month of February, 1825, the first
jury was empanelled in the Supreme Court, when Mr. Went-
worth and Dr. Wardell appealed for the Emancipasts against
the compilation of the lists. The application was disallowed,
being irregular. In 1827 a great meeting was held under
the auspices of the Patriotic Association. Mr. Wentworth
spoke strongly on the question, and moved the adoption of
the petition in favour of the principle. The petition was
entrusted to Sir James Macintosh, but he was unsuccessful.
On the accession of William IV., an address of congratula-
tion to the Throne was moved by public meeting. Mr.
Wentworth moved an amendment that full participation in
the benefits and privileges of the British Constitution should
be asked for New South Wales. Mr. Lethbridge seconded
the amendment, which was unanimously adopted by the
meeting. The Full Court decided, three years later, that
under the statute of 6th George IV., all free persons were
entitled to all the privileges of freedom. This decision
settled the question of the right of Emancipasts to sit on
juries, and put an end to the military jury system, which
up to that time obtained in the colony. Mr. Wentworth
came into collision with Governor Gipps in con-
82 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
nection with the purchase of a large tract of land in New
Zealand. In concert with the Consul there, Mr. Busby and
others had acquired ten millions of acres in the Middle,
and two hundred thousand in the North Island, paying
£200 each, and life annuities of £100, to the chiefs who
ceded. In 1840 a Bill was introduced to deal with these
claims, which resulted in their disallowance, it being lield
that British subjects had no right to form colonies of them-
selves, and that the Maoris, as an uncivilised people,
had no proprietary privileges or right of legal transfer.
The Bill was passed, although Mr. Wentworth personally advo-
cated his claims as well as his partner's in the transactions.
Undoubtedly the principal work of Mr. Wentwortli's public
career was the working out of the Constitution, the great
Act whicli handed his name for ever down to posterity.
In October, 182.5, the first public meeting held in New South
"Wales bearing on the popular privileges, the names of
D'Arcy Wentworth and William Charles Wentworth are
among the very first mentioned. The meeting was held to
prepare an address to Governor Brisbane on his departure
from New South Wales. Mr. Wentworth being one of the
persons present appointed to present the address, took the
opportunity of claiming for the colony the right of repre-
sentation with taxation, and suggested the establishment of
a House of Assembly of one hundred members. In 1827
another meeting was held, at which an address was adopted
and sent home through Mr. Blaxland for presentation to
both Houses of Parliament. Two years later a further
fight was made for Constitutional privileges, at a meeting
held in the Sydney Court House. A motion was moved by
Mr. Wentworth, and seconded by Mr. Lawson, asking for a
House of fifty members, and asserting the right of the
colonies to dispose of their own revenue.
It was at this meeting that the first mention was made
W. C. WENTWORTH. 83
of a paid Agent-General, the Governor being memorialised
to appropriate £1,000 for the purpose. Another meeting
under the auspices of the Patriotic Association was held in
1835 to discuss the proposed Constitution, and the qualifi-
cations of meniV)ers and voters. A proposition was made
to have an Upper and Lower House ; another proposal was
that there should be one House of fifty members, forty to be
elective. In 1841 still another meeting was held to petition
the Queen to extend the constitutional privileges of
representation to the colony, alleging that the existing
legislature was neither capable nor desirous of re-
presenting the community. This meeting was presided
over by Dr. Bland. Several other meetings were held
throughout the colony, and similar resolutions carried.
On January 5th, 1843, news was received in Sydney that,
yielding to the demands of reason and justice, and the
clearly-expressed desire of the people, the Imperial Parlia-
ment had passed an Act (July 29th, 1842) conferring a
Constitution on New South Wales ; so that, after fifteen
years' agitation on the part of the colonists, headed by Mr.
Wentworth, a Representative Council was granted, The
Council consisted of fifty-four members, thirty-six of whom
were elective, and eighteen nominated by the Crown. Four
of the elective members were to represent Port Phillip, and
of the nominated members six were, by virtue of their offices —
the Colonial Secretary, Colonial Treasurer, Auditor-General,
Attorney-General, Commander of the Forces, and the Col-
lector of Customs. A freeholder of £200, or a householder
of £20, enjoyed the electoral privilege ; £2,000, or an annual
income of £100, was the qualification of member of Coun-
cil, the term of office being for five years. Seven years
afterwards, Tasmania, South Australia, and West Australia
were likewise allowed the elective rights, while Port Phillip
was erected into a separate colony under the name of Vic-
84 AUSTRALIAN PIONKERS AND REMINISCENCES.
toria. The Act reduced tlie electoral qualification in New
South Wales and Victoria. In 18-1:3 the first election
under the Constitution took place in Sydney, five
candidates being nominated. On June 15th, Messrs.
Wentworth and Bland were returned by a large
majority over Messrs. O'Connell, Cooper, and Hustler, the
other candidates. Open voting at elections was then in
vogue, and great damage was done to both life and property
owing to the rioting which resulted. In the month of
August following, the first Parliament was convened, and
was inaugurated by Mr. Deas-Thomson, Colonial Secretary.
Mr. Macleay was chosen Speaker. Amongst legislation
passed during this first session were an Act to inquire into
the working of the Land Laws, a Debtors' Act, Liens on
"Wool, and one regulating mortgages of live stock. At this
time it was evident that Mr. Wentworth's liberalism was
on the wane ; that he was slowly becoming more con-
servative. This was discernible towards the latter part of
the movement for Responsible Government. Under the
" Imperial Act of 1843 " it will be seen that the members
of the Ministry were nominees of the Crown, and virtually
irresponsible to either Parliament or the electors. In 1851
Mr. Wentworth tabled a motion in the Council, in which a
petition to the Queen was adopted, praying for a Constitu-
tion similar to that of Canada, and requesting the entire
surrender of all revenues and legislative rights to the
Colonial Legislature. And it was placed on the Minutes
of the House that all offices of trust, except that of Gover-
nor, should be conferred by the colonists ; that the public
lands and all the departments should be subject only to the
Colonial Legislature ; that the Imperial Parliament had no
right to tax the colonists ; and that plenary powers should
be conferred on the Colonial Legislature. A committee was
appointed in 1852 to prepare a Constitution ; the first name
W. C. AVENTAVORTH. 85
on that committee was that of W. C. Wentworth. Next
year a despatch was received from the Secretary of State
for the Colonies, ratifying the 1851 resolution of the Council,
and conveying Her Majesty's wish that the Council should
■establish a new legislature on the basis of an elective
Assembly, and a nominee Council. A second committee
to frame a Constitution was then appointed, on the motion
of Mr. Wentworth. It consisted of the mover, Messrs. E.
Deas-Thomson, J. Macarthur, J. H. Plunkett, C. Cowper,
J. Martin, C. S. Donaldson, Macleay, Thurlow, and Murray.
On the report being brought up, it was found to contain a
recommendation that the members of the Upper House
should receive hereditary titles, and constitute a colonial
nobility, whose descendants should have the privilege of
electing members from among their own class. Large meet-
ings of protest were held. The Bill was condemned as
defective. The people appeared determined to have no con-
stitution other than one based on popular suffrage. Mr.
Wentworth, being the chief mover in the matter, brought
in the Bill, making a powerful and statesmanlike speech in
sujDport of it, and carried it, peerage clause and all, by a
large majority. The debate lasted seven days, the numbers
being : for the Bill, thirty-four, and against it, eight. Three
■days after, a great meeting was held at the Circular Quay
in condemnation of the measure, and to petition the Queen
to refuse assent to the Bill. When the Bill got into com-
mittee in the Council, the peerage clause was eliminated,
and the nomination of members for life was inserted. The
measure passed its third reading on 21st December, amid
great cheering, by twenty-seven to six. During the suc-
ceeding year, Mr. Wentworth and Mr. Deas-Thomson were
commissioned to proceed to England to watch the passage
of the Bill through the British Parliament. Before leaving
for England, Mr. Wentworth was the recipient of a great
86 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
public demonstration, A full length portrait of him was
placed on the walls of the Legislative Assembly, and a
service of plate was presented to him by the people.
A sketch, published in the Australian Portrait Galleryy
speaking of Mr. Wentworth after the meeting of the first
Parliament under Resi^onsible Government, said : — "While
the subject of this memoir was thus occupied in building
up in the legislative records of this colony, a monument to
himself, which should last beyond the dreams of prophecy,
he was also engaged from time to time in other labours in
the public interest. His life was a compact of these labours,
and it may be justly said that his every thought and energy
were expended in tlie service of his native land. In 1842
the great woi-k of the establishment of the University of
Sydney was conceived by his active and far-seeing mind,
and with that ardour which he threw into all his under-
takings, and the electric power which he possessed of
influencing his contemporaries, he pushed that labour on to
an ultimate success." On October 2nd, in the year named,
he made an eloquent speech in his place in the Council in
favour of tne project, and saw the Bill passed in 1850.
His services in this connection were worthily recognised by
the wealth and culture of the colony, a splendid life-size
statue of Mr. Wentworth being placed within the Great
Hall of the University to mark the public appreciation of
his efforts. The statue was unveiled in 1862, while the
person thus unusually honoured was still alive. On that
occasion Sir James Martin, who was then Premier, delivered
an eulogistic address on the life and work of the recipient of
the distinction, in the course of which he spoke as follows : —
" The next and the last of his public acts, I shall, on this
occasion advert to, is the establishment of the Sydney
University. With that noble institution, his name is for
ever associated as its founder. Whatever may be the fate
W. C. WENTWORTH. 87
of our political institutions, how great soever may be their
vicissitudes, here, at all events, is an institution likely to
endure. Hitherward, in future times, will turn the steps
of those who feel the promptings of a generous ambition.
Conquerors in the realms of mind they will go forth into
the world, vivifying the dull elements around them, and
arousing, as by an electric shock, the sons of toil and trade
and commerce to a conception of the true glories of the
universe. To the man who, in this early stage of our history,
placed these splendid oppoi'tunities within our reach, it
cannot be thought remarkable, even if he had done nothing
more, that the honour of a public statue should be offered.
Accordingly, eight years ago, his friends, comprising not
only those who had witnessed, but some who had aided him
in his labours, met together on the eve of his departure from
the colony for a time, and determined that, in acknowledg-
ment of his many services, that the honour should be
conferred upon him. The announcement was made at the
moment of his embarkation amidst the cheers of his friends
and the disapprobation of a few who regarded him as the
enemy of his country. He who had done so much for the
people, and had often been greeted with their loudest huzzas,
had before that encountered their hootings and revilings ;
but no one knew better than he the inconstancy of popular
favour. But although they break their idols as often as
tliey make them, the people in the long run learn to do
justice to their benefactors, and Mr. Wentworth has enjoyed
the singular good fortune of living to see conferred on him
an honour which is usually witnessed only by a man's pos-
terity, and to see it conferred with the assent, not only of
those who have ever been his friends, but of those who were
the most bitter of his opponents. He has outlived the envy,
hatred, and malignity which inevitably cross the path of
every man who becomes eminent in public life ; and now
S8
AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
in liis green old age, with his mind still clear, and his
faculties still unclouded, he has been allowed a foretaste of
the posthumous renown which awaits him." Mr.Wentworth
returned in T861. He was received with another popular
demonstration, political opponents as well as friends meet-
ing to do him honour. He remained until the latter part
of 1862. During his stay he was appointed President of
the Legislative Council. His family went to England with
him in 1862. He died at Merleigh House, Wimbourne,
Dorsetshire, March 30th, 1872. In accordance with his
oft expressed wish during his lifetime, that he should be
buried in Australian soil, his remains were brought to the
colony, and a public funeral accorded him May 6th, 1873.
An immense concourse of people attended the funeral. Sir
James Martin delivered a burial oration, the remains being
interred at Vaucluse, a few miles from the city of Sydney,
on the shores of the harbour of Port Jackson.
CHAPTER V.
Early Men of Genu's and Power — The List Continued — Sir
Charles Cowper — The Anti-Transportation Battle —
Sir Terence Aubrey Murray— The Strugcjle for Popu-
lar Rights— Sir James Martin — A Victim to Prejudice —
A Pioneer of Protection — Captain Robert Johnston,
R.N. — Hon. Robert Towns — Thomas Sutcliffe Mort —
Earliest Meat Freezing Effort — "There shall be no
MORE Waste ! "
The Hon. Sir Charles Cowper, K.C.M.G.
IR CHARLES COWPER, although born
in England, may almost be claimed as a
native of the colony, having come to Aus-
tralia with his parents when only two
> years old. He was born at Drypool, York-
(■rfXWi'''^f\i ^'^"'®' ^^^ April 26th, 1807. He was
.ii^^Jf^cM, educated by private tutors. His first
''^s^^ start in life was in the Commissariat
Department, the Governor, Sir Thomas Brisbane, appoint-
ing him as a clerk, young Cowper being then only
eighteen years of age. In the following year, Governor
Darling appointed him Secretary to the Church and
■School Lands Corporation, which position he held until
that body was done away with in 1833, the lands reverting
to the Crown in accordance with the charter under which
the corporation existed. He declined an appointment
offered him by Sir Richard Bourke. He then entered on
pastoral pursuits, taking up stations in the Argyle district,
90 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
and others on the Murray. He followed this business for
a considerable time. He had such a liking for political
warfare that it somewhat distracted him from his squatting
pursuits. He contested the electorate of Camden in 1843,
being opposed by Mr. Roger Therry, who was then Attorney-
General, the latter receiving the suppoi't of Mr. James.
Macarthur, a gentleman who wielded great influence in that
electorate. Notwithstanding this, Mr. Cowper was only
beaten by ten votes. Mr. Macarthur was nominated for
Cumberland, his election being considered certain. Mr.
Cowper's friends, being displeased with his opposition to his.
candidature, placed him in nomination against Mr. Macar-
thur, and secured Mr. Cowper's return by a large majority.
For brilliancy of intellect and great political forethought,
and oratorical ability, the men who composed our early par-
liaments and those who held the reins of power as ministers,
would bear fair comparison with any legislative body in the
world, not even excepting that " first assembly of gentle-
men in the world " — the British House of Conmions.
Among this assemblage of talent, Mr. Cowper always held
his own, as is abundantly shown, not only by the number
of times he was Premier, but that he was called upon to
form the second Ministi-y under Responsible Government.
Mr. Cowper took a leading part in the anti-transportation
agitation. He was a most uncompromising opponent of the
revival of transportation to any of the colonies. Altliough
the agitation lasted nearly twenty years, Mr. Cowper never-
departed from determined opposition to convictism. On
1st August, 1840, Governor Gipps announced to the Coun-
cil that transportation to the colony had ceased. Two years
afterwards a meeting was held to advocate the revival of
transportation, and soon after a committee was appointed
in the Council to consider the question. This committee
reported in favour of the revival. The first meeting of the
CHARLES COWPER. 9lf
public, condemnatory of the committee's recommendation,,
was held in the old City Theatre, Sydney, in 1846. Mr.
Cowper presided, and moved a resolution, " that the meet-
ing had heai'd with the deepest feelings of alarm and regret
that it was proposed to renew transportation to this colony,"
and that they " could not conceive any circumstances under-
which such a measure would be desirable or justifiable."'
The Venerable Archdeacon McEncroe, who always took the
humane and popular side in the early struggles for the
improvement of the colony, seconded the motion in an
eloquent speech, and a petition for presentation to the Coun-
cil was drawn ujp. The petition was presented on the last
day of the session, and the motion that it be printed was
negatived. In February, 1849, another monster meeting
was held in the Victoria Theatre to protest against the
revival of transportation. The Venerable Archdeacon
McEncroe, and Mr. Robert Lowe (afterwards Lord Sher-
brooke), addressed the meeting, as well as Mr. Cowper,,
and a petition was adopted stating that " they felt bound,
humbly but tirmly, to represent to Her Majesty, that it was.
their duty and their determination, by every legal and con-
stitutional means, to oppose the revival of transportation
in any shape." On the 9th March, another meeting was
held in the Victoria Theatre, the Mayor presiding on this,
occasion, and, as at the previous meeting, the principal
speakers were the Rev. John McEncroe, Mr. Cowper, andl
Mr. Lowe. In June, 1849, a large meeting was held at the
Circular Quay, to protest against the misrepresentation of
the Council in the matter of transportation. On June 8th,
1849, the "Hashemy," a convict ve.ssel, arrived, being the-
first for ten years. There were some two hundred convicts.
on board. The meeting referred to was held on the 11th.
June, Mr. Robert Campbell being chairman. There was
great excitement on the occasion, the guards at Government
"92 AUSTRALIAX PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
House being doubled, and the guns of a man-of-warship
made ready for firing on the crowded meeting. Mr. Lamb
moved a resolution " that the people of the colony protested
^igainst the transportation of British criminals on the ground
that the will of the majority was against it ; that numbers
had immigrated on the assurance of the British Government
that the custom had ceased for ever ; that it was unjust to
sacrifice the social and political interests of the colony for
the pecuniary profit of the few ; and that the revival of the
practice would tend to alienate the loyalty of the British
subjects in Australia." Mr. Lowe seconded the resolution,
and Messrs. Henry Parkes, G. A. Lloyd, J. R. Wilshire,
Grant Peek, Flood, and Dr. Fullerton were among those
who addressed the meeting. A deputation presented the
petition to the Governor, and requested that the convict
ship be sent back to England. This request was refused,
and a meeting was held on the 18th June, at which a reso-
lution was passed praying for the removal of Earl Grey
from her counsels. The following day the convicts were
landed, and were drafted to the different parts of the colony
outside the County of Cumberland. At a meeting held at
the old barrack square, 16th September, 18-50, the Anti-
Transportation Association was formed. Meetings also
took place in various parts of the country, at which strong
expressions of opinion were voiced on the question. On
July 29th, 18.51, yet another meeting was held, under the
presidency of Mr. Cowper. A petition was adopted stating
that " the petitioners felt compelled, humbly but firmly, to
represent to Her Majesty in person, that the subterfuges,
-evasions, equivocations, and breaches of faith practised
towards these colonies by Earl Grey, had unhappily des-
troyed all confidence in His Lordship's administration of
colonial aff'airs." Messrs. Cowper, Parkes, Kemp, Arch-
deacon McEncroe, among others, spoke on the occasion.
THE ANTI-TRANSPORTATION BATTLE. 9$
Transportation to Tasmania ceased February 10th, 1853,
and on 26th January, 1865, the announcement was made-
that in three years, transportation to all the colonies would
end. The last convict ship arrived in Western Australia
on January 10th, 1868. On the defeat of the Donaldson
Ministry, in 1856, Mr. Cowper was entrusted with the-
formation of a new Ministry. It was composed of the
following gentlemen : — Mr. Robert Campbell, Colonial
Treasurer ; Terence Aubrey Murray, Minister for Lands-
and Works ; Mr. James Martin, Attorney-General ; and
Mr. Lutwyche, Solicitor-General. The new Ministry were
immediately met by a motion of censure, which was moved
by Mr. John Hay, chiefly on account of the appointment
of Mr. Martin to the Attorney-Generalship, he having been
only admitted to the Bar a few days before. The vote of
censure was carried, and the first Cowper Ministry resigned)
on October 2nd, 1856. Mr. Watson Parker formed the
next Government, Mr. John Hay, the mover of the resolu-
tion which ousted the Ministry, taking the position of
Minister for Lands and Works, and Mr. Donaldson that of
Treasurer. In September, 1857, the Parker Ministry went
out of office, Mr. Cowper coming in again as Premier and
Colonial Secretary ; Mr. Richard Jones was Colonial
Treasurer; Mr. Murray, Lands and Works; Mr. Martin,.
Attorney - General ; and Mr. Lutwyche Solicitor-General..
Mr. Jones afterwards retired, and Mr. Robert Campbell
again rose to the Treasurership. On Mr. Campbell's death,
Mr. E. C. Weekes becoming Treasurer, Mr. Murray and.
Mr. John Robertson took the Lands, and Mr. Flood became
Minister for Works. Mr. Martin also resigned the Attorney-
Generalship, Mr. Lutwyche becoming Attorney - General ;.
he, in turn, being succeeded Ijy L. H. Bayley ; Mr. W. B.
Dalley and Mr. Hargrave as Solicitors - General. This
Ministry passed the " Electoral Act of 1858," giving man-
'94 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
hood suffrage, vote by ballot, and the division of the colony
into electorates on a population basis. In October, 1859,
the Ministry was defeated on a vote of censure moved by
Mr. William Forster relative to the education question.
Mr. Forster formed a Ministry, which was, however,
defeated in March following, on its Upper House Electoral
Bill. Mr. Robertson formed the next Ministry, Mr. Cow-
per being Colonial Secretary. In a short time Mr. Robertson
'handed over the Premiership to Mr. Cowper, whose Ministry
remained in office from January 10, 1861, to October 1.5,
1863. This latter consisted of Elias Carpenter Weekes,
Colonial Treasurer ; John Robertson, Minister for Lands ;
Mr. W, M. Arnold, Secretary for Public Works; J. B.
Darvall, Attorney-General ; J. F. Hargrave, Solicitor-Gene-
ral ; and Charles Cowper, Junior Clerk of the Executive
'Council. It was during their term of office that the "Free
Selection before Survey Land Act " was passed. The
" Abolition of State Aid to Religion " was another measure
•enacted by this Ministry, which when defeated in October,
1863, was succeeded by the Martin Ministry, it, in turn,
being defeated on its Protectionist proposals in 186.5.
Mr. Cowper then again took up the reins of office, his
colleagues being Messrs. Smart, Samuel, and Burdekin
successively as Colonial Treasurers ; Darvall and Plunkett
successively as Attorneys-Genei'al ; Robertson, Secretary
for Lands, succeeded by W. M. Arnold ; Arnold and Smart
succeeding each other as Secretaries for Works, and J. A.
Cunneen Postmaster-General. The Ministry lasted till
•Januai'y, 1866, when Mr. Henry Parkes defeated them on
a question of the new duties. Mr. Cowper at this time
retired from politics for some four years. Mr. Robertson
then invited him to come forward and assume the position
of Premier. Thus he was Premier from January 13th to
December 15th, 1870; his colleagues were Messrs. Samuel and
TERENCE AUI3REY MURRAY. 95
Forster, succeeded by Messrs. Robertson, Sutherland, Man-
ning, Salomons, Egan, and Robert Owen. He took the post
of Agent-General for the Colony in December, 1870, start-
ing for England immediately to enter on the duties of that
office, which he held until 1875, when his health broke down.
He died in England on October ■20th, 1875. He married
in 1831, Eliza, second daughter of Daniel Sutton, of
"Wivenhoe, near Colchester, England. He had six child-
ren, the present Sheriff of New South Wales being his
eldest son. His brother is Dean Cowpei", a leading figure
■among the members of the Church of England in Australia.
Sir Charles Cowper was knighted in 1872, an honour which
the recipient highly merited, and which, at that time, was
rarely bestowed. Probably there has been no political
leader in the colony of New South Wales who filled the
position of Premier with such marked success at all times.
He not only had the faculty of making friends, but also of
keeping them.
Sir Terence Aukkey Murray, Kt. B.
Terence Aubrey Murray was born in Limerick, Ireland,
in 1810. His father accepted an official appointment in
New South Wales. After a residence of about seven
years, he paid a visit to the old country, and, on his return
to the colony, he brought with him his son, who, up to that
time, had been educated at home. Soon after his arrival
he went to Lake George, and started sheep-farming on his
father's land. He returned to Sydney in 1833. He was
gazetted a magistrate of the territory at the age of twenty-
three, Avhen he took an active part with Mr. Waddy in the
efforts put forth against the bushrangers, who at that time
were very active in various parts of the country. When
the New Constitution was granted in 18-13, Mr, Murray
was elected to represent three counties — Murray, King, and
96 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Georgiana, From this . time up to his death he was
closely connected with the political life of the colony.
Amongst the names of those who were elected ta
the first Council were those of Wentworth, Bland, Cowper,
Forster, Macleay, Nicholson, Lang, and Murray. On the
motion of Mr. Murray, immediately after the Council met,
a committee was appointed to inquire into the provisions of
Lord Stanley's Land Act, as it related to New South Wales.
Mr. Murray was appointed president of this committee. Sir
Thomas Mitchell, the Surveyor-General, was examined, and
his answer to a question as to how far the land policy tended
to develop the resources of the colony, was, "In no way
whatever, so far as the pi'ogress of colonisation goes. The
colony is now available to temporary occupants only, and
what they earn goes elsewhere, leaving nothing to make a
colony with." Mr. Icely was also examined; he said "he
had not known of anyone really settling on the land since
the auction system commenced." After this the Orders-in-
Council were passed leasing the land to those who wished to
apply for it. An Act for the " Better Government of the
Australian Colonies " received the Royal assent in 1850.
This conferred legislative independence on Victoria, and
introduced tlie elective principle into Tasmania, Western
Australia, and South Australia. It reduced the franchise
in New South Wales and Victoria to a £100 freehold oi"
£10 household qualification, and gave Her Majesty power
to erect other colonies. Mr. Murray's name appears promi-
nently in all the struggles for popular rights ; indeed it is.
found on the very first draft proposals to give free institu-
tions to the colony. Mr. Murray was among the first
members who were elected to the first parliament under
Responsible Government, which met in Maccjuarie-street oni
May 22nd, 1856. He sat as member for the Southern
Boroughs. When Sir Charles Cowper formed his second
I
Hon Wm. Forster. Sir Francis Fori;e.s.
Sir James Martin.
Sir John Robertson. Sir Terence A. Murray,
SIR JAMES MARTIN. 97
Ministry, Mr. Murray accepted the position of Secretary
for Lands and Works, and for a short period he acted as
Auditor - General. The Ministries of the early days of
Responsible Government were very short-lived, and this
Ministry only lasted about two months. Mr. Murray held
the office of Lands and Works from 7th Septemljer, LS57,
to 12th January, 1858, when he resigned. In 1860 he was
elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Two years
later he was appointed to a seat in the Upper House, and
was elected President of the Council in 1862, in succession
to W. C. Wentworth. He was created Knight Bachelor
in 1869, and held office as President of the Legislative
Council until his death (at the age of sixty-three), which
occurred on the 22nd June, 1873.
The Hon. Sir James Martin, Kt. B., Chief Justice.
The advent of Responsible Government in New South
Wales drew out in a marked degree, not only the talent of
those gentlemen who had the advantage of a high scliolastic
and sometimes university training in the old country, but
also some young men natives of the soil, as well as
those who were brought here by their parents at an early
age, and who received their education in the colony. The
latter, in brilliance and abilities, outshone the former class.
Amongst all the names of our greatest men there is none
which stands higher for intellectual power than that of Sir
James Martin.
James Martin was born in the town of Middleton, County
of Cork, Ireland, May 14, 1820. In 1821 his parents
emigrated to Sydney, and immediately settled at Parra-
matta, where they remained till 1834. They then removed
to Sydney. Young James went to a primary school at
Parramatta, and on his removal to Sydney he studied under
Mr. Cape. On leaving the Sydney Grammar School, where
98 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
he spent some time, he was ai'ticled to Mr. G. R. Nichols,
who was then the leading attorney in Sydney. Mr. Martin
was himself admitted as an attorney in May, 184.5. He
commenced practising for himself. He also edited the Atlas
some time after, and became a contributor to the Emjnre iu
1851. In 1848 he was elected to represent the counties of
Cook and Westmoreland under the old Council ; he was,
however, unseated on petition. A fresh election was held,
when he was returned without opposition. He was re-
elected in 1851. In 1852 he was appointed one of the
committee to draft a Constitution for the colony. At
the election in 1856 Mr. Martin was again taken on by his
old constituents. He was then a liberal of the liberals,
and at once joined the Opposition against Mr. Donaldson's
Cabinet. On the defeat of the Ministry Mr. Martin became
Attorney - General in the first Cowper Administration,
having only been called to the Bar a day or two prior to
his taking the portfolio. The Conservatives were at once
up in arms against the young advocate, and so successfully
did they wage their war that the Ministry was defeated in
a little over a month from the time of taking office. On
that occasion Mr. Martin made a splendid defence. He
said he was surrounded by those who had raised
themselves to high position by their own lionorable exer-
tions — true sons of the soil, not in the narrow sense in
which the term is generally understood, but in the sense of
the old Roman satirist, who applied the expression to those
who owed their success in life neither to wealth, nor pedigree,
nor fortune. Between them there were many things in
common. He asked them, and he asked them confidently,
not ungenerously and unjustly to desert him on that occasion.
From his outset in life till that time, he had to achieve
everything for himself, and from the humblest beginning
he had fought his way almost to the highest point to which,
A VICTIM TO PREJUDICE. 99
in this colony, it was possible to attain. At every step he
had been met with opposition, and had been compelled to
make good his ground, and whatever he had achieved he
owed not to the favour or affection of any man. He had
never cringed, nor fawned, nor played the sycophant, and
if his conduct was open to condemnation, it certainly was
in a contrary direction. The lesson of self-reliance, of
which, he trusted, he might be pardoned in regarding him-
self as an example, would not, he hoped, be shorn of its
value by an unmerited reverse in tlie moment of triumph.
As he liad borne up against and overcome many obstacles
of greater magnitude than the present, he trusted tliat he
should successfully bear up against this one also, and that,
in the stand which he then took, the generous and spon-
taneous sympathies of the House would go along with him,
and that the only effect of the present storm would be, like
those of the physical universe, to leave the atmosphere of
public life purer than before." But his colleagues held to
him, though, by doing so, they received defeat. The Minis-
try which succeeded the Cowper Administration, were,
however, thrown out in September, 1857, and Mr. Martin
again took office in the second Cowper Ministry. He
resigned in November, 1858, and was again elected under
the "New Electoral Act" in 1859 as one of the metro-
politan members. After this he devoted most of his time
to the practice of his profession until 1863, when he was
found at the head of a Cabinet. This was the first Pro-
tectionist Government in the colony. The protectionist
motion was passed by the Assembly, but was rejected by
the Upper Chamber, a general election following. The
greatest excitement prevailed all over the colony. But Mr.
Martin was defeated. Speaking before the event, on
Protection, he said : — " I think this most magnificent
territory, teeming with the elements of every kind of
100 AUSTRALIAN PIONEKRS AND REMINISCENCES.
wealth — mineral, pastoral, agricultural^was intended for
other purposes than a sheep-walk, like a vast Asiatic
steppe, or a mere commercial emporium, like some small
city of the middle ages. "With a territory larger than
the greatest kingdom of Europe, and a population no
greater than a sixth-rate European town, I thought there
was an ample field, to which the starving thousands of the
mother country might be removed — to the great relief of
that country — to the great advantage of this. I knew that
the skilled artizan of Britain could not be honestly asked
to come to a country where the necessaries of life were
dear, and the articles, in the manufacture of which he was
an adept, were imported at a price with which he could not
compete ; and I felt that his position was not mended by
the opportunity afforded of taking his wife to some remote
gunyah on the Namoi or the Darling, or settling down on
some alluvial patch, the fruits of which might, at any time,
be reduced in price below the cost of their production by
imports from foreign countries. There is a limit to the
number of shepherds and bullock drivers, dock labourers,
porters, wai'ehousemen, and mercantile clerks required, and
there are many other occupations equally desirable and
equally ennobling. I knew that the greatness of England
arose not from commerce, not from manufactures, not from
agriculture alone — -but from all combined. By the oppor-
tunities which a wise legislation afforded for every kind of
industry and enterprise, those small islands became the
habitation of the greatest and wealthiest people on the
globe. The coal, the iron, the copper, the lead, the wool,
the fertile soil, which constitute the foundation of England's
greatness, are here as well as there, and in a larger measure ;
but while the British Islands supports thirty millions, this
colony is unable to maintain in comfort four hundred thou-
sand. I knew that such a state of things was most unnatural.
A PIONEER OP PROTECTION, 101
I knew that however lucrative it might be to supply cotton
silks to the nobility of the Sandwich Islands, and shoddy
cloth and Brummagem rubbish of all kinds to the simple
savages of Oceania, but a very small number could partici-
pate in those advantages. We miglit, by trade of that kind,
constitute a rude, barbaric, bastard sort of Antipodean
Venice, with nothing of the greatness or grandeur of its
prototype ; but we could never by those means reproduce
here a manly, vigorous, numerous British population. I
wished to see this country largely peopled with such a popu-
lation. And with that object I strove rather that everyone
should be comfortable than that a few should be rich — that
there should be fair scope for every man to elevate himself,
or to bring up his children to, that pursuit to which his
judgment or his fancy inclined him ; and that no man
should be found starving in a land of plenty, or begging and
begging in vain —
A brother of the earth
To give him leave to toil."
But, with all the eloquence and force brought to bear on the
question by Mr. Martin, the Ministry was defeated at the
polls. Mr. Cowper again came into office. It was this
Ministry which passed the ad valorem duties. Mr. Martin
again came into power in 1866, coalescing with Sir Henry
Parkes, who had strongly opposed him in 1863. Mr. Mar-
tin was Premier at the time the Duke of Edinburgh visited
the colony in 1868 ; on that occasion he received the honour
of knighthood. He retired from office consequent upon a
vote of censure moved by Sir John Robertson in 1868. In
December, 1870, he again became Premier, Mr. Robertson
taking office under him. This Ministry remained in power
till May, 1872. In November, 1873, Sir Henry Parkes
being then Premier, appointed Sir James Martin Chief
102 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Justice of the colony. Sir James Martin was three times
Premier, five times Minister of the Crown, on each occasion
holding the office of Attorney-General. It was he who
established the Sydney branch of the Mint, which has
proved of great advantage to the colony. As leader of the
House he showed himself somewhat autocratic, and he
always displayed great and almost overwhelming power in
debate. As a lawyer, Sir James Martin in his day stood
far above every man at the Bar in Australia.
He died after a brief illness on 4th November, 1886, at
his residence, " Clarens," Potts' Point, Sydney, and was
buried at St. Jude's, Randwick.
Captain Robert Johnston, R.N.
The name of Captain Johnston takes us back to-
stirring scenes in the early history of the colony. The
family has indeed been identified with the interests of New
South Wales since the foundation of the colony.
His father was the late Colonel Johnston, who landed
with Governor Phillip, being then a lieutenant of marines.
He afterwards took a leading part in deposing Governor
Bligh.
Captain Robert Johnston was born in N.S.Wales on the
9th March, 1790. When seven years old he was taken to-
England by his father, and was educated at Newington
Butts, Surrey, remaining there for six years. One day at
school he was passing the Admiralty yard, when he saw a
one-armed officer talking to a sailor with a wooden leg.
When the officer had passed on, the boy asked the sailor
who the officer was. " Lord Nelson," was the reply. At
that time Lord Nelson was at the height of his fame, and
the incident left an impression on the mind of the lad which
during his life was never effaced. Not long after, he saw
CAPT. ROBERT JOHNSTON. 103
the funeral of tlie greatest naval commander England ever
knew pass through the streets of London. On that occasion
the boy narrowly escaped being crushed to death by the
crowd. He was saved by taking i-efuge under the horse of
one of the horse guards. On leaving school he entered the
navy as a boy volunteer of the first class on board the 50-
gun ship "Malabar." He served during the blockade of
the French and Dutch fleets in the Texel ; joined the
" Namure " as a midshipman, being afterwards transferred
to the 36-gun frigate " Semiramis," commissioned for active
service off the coast of Spain and Portugal. He was present
at the battle of Corunna, and afterwards joined the "Norge"
as master's mate. He was present at the storming of Cadiz
by the French under Marshal Soult, and took part in the
attack on St. Mary's, where he was in command of a rocket
boat. While so engaged the boat was struck by a round
shot, and immediately sank, those who were not killed being
rescued by the other boats. Some time after, he and another
with 150 men took the captured 80-gun French ship "Nep-
tune " to Majorca ; later on he rejoined the " Norge," and
returned in that ship to England. Subsequently he joined
H.M.S. "Asia," the flagship of Vice- Admiral Sir Alexan-
der Cochrane, bound for the American station. While at
Bermuda he was promoted to a lieutenancy, and placed in
command of a despatch boat, which procured him an intro-
duction to the captain of Lord Nelson's ship " Victory,"
Sir Thomas Hardy. While still a lieutenant he was present
at the capture of the City of Washington, and afterwards
joined Sir Peter Parker, Bart., who was engaged blockading
Baltimore with the " Menelaus " frigate. He also fought
in the attack on Moorfields, in which engagement Sir Peter
Parker was killed. At a later date we find him in the New
Orleans expedition, and when peace was concluded he was
appointed second lieutenant to the "Asia," under Captain
104 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Alexander Skeene. When the " Asia " was paid off, Lieu-
tenant Johnston applied to the Admiralty for active service,
but this position not being available, he asked for and
obtained leave of absence, in order to visit his family in
Australia. He arrived in Sydney in October, 1816, being
then twenty-six years of age, and his services were at once
claimed by Governor Macquarie for purposes of navigation
and exploration. It was he, may be remarked, who dis-
covered the Clyde Rivei', and the source of the Warragamba.
His leave of absence having expired, he was about return-
ing to England, but, his elder brother having died, he found
it necessary to remain to look after the family interests.
He then went in for agricultural and pastoral pursuits with
his brother, Mr. David Johnston. In 1831 he married the
eldest daughter of Mr. Wellen, of Hammershaw, Bucks,
England, by whom he had a family of seven sons and two
daughters. Once, when returning to Sydney from the Cape of
Good Hope, in command of the "Queen Charlotte,"
the vessel was saved from utter wreck at King's Island,
Bass's Straits, by his (Captain Johnston's), presence of mind.
In the night-time, during a heavy gale, a cry of " breakers
ahead " was raised. The crew begged the captain to order
the helm a-starboard. He, however, rushed to the helm
himself, and sent it hard a-port. When daylight broke it
was clearly seen that his action was the only one that could
have saved the ship. On one occasion Captain Johnston
went out alone to capture two bushrangers, who were
reported to be asleep in the bush on George's Hill Estate.
He was severely wounded on the face and thigh with a
sheath-knife during the encounter. He, however, succeeded
in capturing one of the men — the other fled. In 1822 he
was " stuck up " by Tennant, a bushranger, who came to
ask Captain Johnston to intercede for him with the authori-
ties to obtain a mitigation of punishment if he gave himself
ROBERT TOWNS. 105
■up. Captain Jolinstou succeeded in gaining the consent of
the authorities, and Tennant surrendered. In 186-5 Cap-
tain Johnston was promoted to the rank of Commander in
the Royal Navy. He preserved his strong vitality to the
end of his old age. Four years before his death, at the age
of eighty-eight, he made a voyage to New Zealand, and he
was to be seen driving about the city up to within a few
days of his death, whicli event took place at Annandale, on
the 8th September, 1882, at the ripe old age of ninety-two.
His funeral was attended by a large concourse of mourn-
ers, and a party of sailors from H.M.S. "Nelson" fired a
farewell volley over tlie grave of the grand old sailor who
lived and took part in some of the most stirring events
of England's naval history.
The Hon. Robert Towns, M.L.C.
Among the men of large commercial influence in the
early days of N. S. Wales, none was more honoured by all
classes than Robert Towns, or, as he was more familiarly
called, " Bobby Towns." For fifty years he was closely
identified with the commercial life of Australia.
Robert Towns was born at Langhorsley, Northumberland,
on 10th November, 1794. What education he received was
at the village school of his native place. When quite young-
he was placed on board a collier running between Shields
and London. While so employed he took every opportunity
to improve himself and gain knowledge, more particularly
about shipping matters. If his vessel were in port he would
attend a night-school kept by an old sailor, from whom he
learnt something about navigation. At the age of sixteen
he was appointed mate, and at eighteen he was placed in
command of a vessel. Soon after he was sent to the Medit-
erranean, as commander of a brig. While in this trade, he
■managed to save enough money to build a vessel for himself,
106 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
which he named "The Brothers." With this vessel he
commenced the colonial passenger trade, and, although the
traffic at that time was not very heavy. Captain Towns got
the lion's share of it. His ship was the best managed, as
well as the fastest sailer, then trading between England and
Australia, and many of those who afterwards became leaders
in every walk of life in the colonies, journeyed out in Cap-
tain Towns' vessel. In 1833 he married a sister of William
Wentworth, and, nine years after, he settled in Sydney
and established the large mercantile business of Robert
Towns and Company. He employed a large number of
vessels in the Island trade, collecting beche-de-mer, cocoanut
oil, sandalwood, and other products. The late Sir Alex-
ander Stuart was at one time a partner in the business.
In 1851 the Bank of New South Wales was greatly assisted
by Captain Towns, he being then a large capitalist. He
not only increased its capital, but also aided to reorganise
it on a much larger basis, and place it in a position to cope
with the altered conditions of the colony after the discovery
of gold. He was a Director of the Bank up to the time of
his death. Although he was possessed of a large fortune
at this time, he went largely into pastoral pursuits, and
held numbers of stations in various parts of Queensland,
especially in the northern portion of that colony. Towns-
ville, in that colony, was named after him. He formed a
large cotton plantation of 2,000 acres, where he employed
between two and three hundred South Sea Islanders, and
spent £20,000 on the venture. He, in conjunction with
Sir John Robertson and Sir Charles Cowpei-, held immense
tracts of pastoral country, called the " Plains of Promise, '"
on the Norman and Albert Rivers, near the Gulf of Car-
pentaria. On the passing of the Constitution, in 1856,
Mr. Towns was appointed a life member of the Legislative
Council. Long after he retired from business he took a
THOMAS SUTCLIFFE MORT. 107
deep interest in the shipping and commercial affairs of the
colony. To the "Patriotic" and Lancashire cotton funds
he was a very liberal contributor. He died at Cranbrook,.
Rose Bay, Sydney, on 4th April, 1873.
Thomas Sutcliffe Mort.
Prominent among the men who have made New South
"Wales what it is, was the late Thomas Sutcliife Mort. No
name stood higher in the commercial life of the colony than
his. No man of his time worked harder to enlarge the indus-
tries of the country than he ; no man had a wider grasp of the
great possibilities of the country, and certainly no man
spent so much time and capital in developing its resources.
Thomas Sutcliffe Mort was born on December 23rd, 1816,
in Bolton, Lancashire, England. After receiving a com-
mercial education, he entered the counting house of a firm
of warehousemen in Manchester. He arrived in Sydney
in 1838, having accepted an appointment in the house of
Aspinwall, Brown, ifc Co. He remained with this firm and
their successors. Gosling, Brown, & Co., for some five years-
— till the year of 1843 — when the house was involved in
the financial crash which then occurred. This disaster was
mainly due to over speculation, more especially in land and
all kinds of stock, the banks having advanced money for
these purposes with a lavish hand. The Bank of Australia
was the first to close its doors, and as it was the first
monetary institution in the country, it pulled down nearly
all the leading business houses who did business with it,
Mr. Justice Burton brought in a new Insolvency Bill to
meet the times. This measure was known afterwards as
" Burton's Purge," and was intended to relieve the great
distress amongst the commercial houses of the city. During
the first year of its operation, some seven hundred persons
took advantage of the Act. A large public meeting was.
108 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
held during this year to take into consideration the depressed
state of the monetary affairs of the country. Mr. Went-
worth took an active part in the matter, and it was resolved
that the Bank of Australia should be allowed to realise its
securities by holding a public lottery for that purpose.
When the firm of Messrs. Gosling and Brown failed, he
made up his mind to start business on his own account,
which he did, opening as an auctioneer. His connection
with the firm of Gosling, Brown, & Co., had brought him
into contact with a large number of the pastoralists of the
country, this, together with his winning and straightforward
manner, brought him many patrons, and his business
consequently increased rapidly with profit to Mr. Mort,
and great and many advantages to the squatters of the
country. Mr. Mort was one of the promoters of the first
railway in N. S. Wales : the Sydney and Parramatta line.
He also held shares in the Australian Steam Navigation
Company. The gold discovery of 1851, which revolution-
ised the whole of the affairs of the country, found Mr. Mort
ready to take advantage of these altered conditions to
improve his own interest as well as those of the country.
It was he who formed the first company for working gold-
reefs — the " Great Nugget Vein Mining Company." Very
primitive ideas of mining existed at that time, so that people
who invested their money in quartz mining expected an
immediate return upon the capital so invested. In conse-
quence of these mistaken notions, discontent prevailed
amongst the shareholders. Mr, Mort called them together,
and, after explaining matters, offered to take up the shares
of any one who felt dissatisfied. The explanation was so
satisfactory that not one of the shareholders took advantage
of his generous offer. A few years after the discovery of
gold, Mr. Mort, in conjunction with Mr. Hawdon, purchased
14,000 acres of land in the Moruya district, about 200
THE EARLIEST MEAT FREEZING EFFORT. 109'
miles from Sydney, on the South Coast. In 1860 he bought
out his partner, having up to that time expended'
on the property £100,000, The extensive dairying business-
of Bodalla, the largest in the colonies, is well known
throughout Australia, and the products are said to equal
the best English. The estate at the present time consists-
of 38,000 acres. The returns from the place are very large,
as might be expected from so well managed a business. In
1857, Mr. Mort requiring rest after years of constant toil,,
paid a visit to England, where he remained two years,
returning to the colony in 1859. On his return, he entered
into the cultivation of silk, cotton, and sugar. He sank
al)0ut £20,000 in the sugar industry. Soon afterwards he
found himself involved in the celebrated lawsuit, Went-
worth versus Lloyd, Mr. Wentworth moving that the sale
should be declared void on the ground that the auctioneer,
Mr. Mort, had an interest in the transaction. On appeal it
was held by the Master of the Rolls in England, that Mr.
Wentworth was aware of Mr. Mort's interest at the time-
of the sale, the verdict clearing Mr. Mort's character in the
matter. Mr. Mort also took a leading part in the copper
and coal industries of the colony. It need only be men-
tioned here that he was the founder of Mort's Dock and
Engineering Company, the largest of the kind in the
southern hemisphere.
The last undertaking of magnitude to which Mr. Mort
bent his energies, was the exportation of Australian beef
and mutton to England. In 1843 Mr. Mort made an
attempt to export meat cured in the ordinary way, but in
this he was not successful. He now made an effort to
land meat fresh on the home market. In this undertaking
he was assisted by Mr. E. D. Nicolle, who was possessed of
high scientific ability. Mr. Mort's knowledge of the prospects
of pastoral industry enabled him to forecast a magnificent
110 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
future for a trade of this sort. Mr. Nicolle's experiments
were constant, and he received from Mr. Mort a generous
confidence which placed all this gentleman's resources at his
disposal. The first point was to invent a cheap means of
producing artificial cold, and this difiiculty was, after many
trials, overcome by the experimentalists in discovering the
possibility of the repeated use of the same ammonia. In
this respect Messrs. Mort and Nicolle went ahead of Euro-
pean science. According to the first authorities in the old
world, " meat frozen was meat spoiled." But partial
freezing, it was found, would never do, the meat becoming
so rapidly bad when exposed. Mr. Nicolle at last demon-
strated that in Australia, at any rate, meat could be
thoroughly frozen — that its quality was not thus injured —
and that it kept longer after thawing than did other meat
after being killed. Feeling convinced that the results of
Mr. Nicolle's experiments in this respect had made the pro-
ject practicable, Mr. Mort entered upon it with enthusiasm.
A large establishment rose upon the margin of Darling
Harbour, and it was connected with the railway. Costly
machinery, in duplicate, was erected, and the " freezing
chamber " was covered with five miles of iron piping,
through which the liquid ammonia was kept in circulation.
A series of most interesting experiments showed that the
freezing power could be successfully applied to game, fish,
and various sorts of fruits, as well as to meat, and it was a
novel sensation to find one's self suddenly transferred from
the sultry atmosphere of an Australian summer's day to a
region of ice and snow, abounding with oxen and sheep,
poultry, wild game and fish, butter and milk, all as hard as
rock, their natural qualities kept in complete suspension
until the time would come to thaw, cook, and consume them.
The belief that the process injured their quality was shown
over and over again to be unfounded. Mr. Mort then
"there shall be no more waste!" Ill
erected slaughter-houses in the Lithgow Valley, amongst the
Blue Mountains, on the Great Western Line of Railway,
96 miles from Sydney. This site was chosen to save cattle
their journey over the mountains, which much injured their
quality. The buildings and yards were on the most com-
plete plan conceivable. When both establishments were
■finished, Mr. Mort invited, on September 2nd, 1875, a large
number of colonists to make an excursion to Lithgow Valley,
beginning with an inspection of the freezing works at Dar-
ling Harbour. The party proceeded by special train from
the freezing works to the Valley, and there sat down to a
luncheon composed of varieties of fish, game, and meat, all
of which had been frozen for considerable periods before
being cooked. The whole repast was a thorough success,
and congratulations were showered upon the chairman and
Mr. Nicolle from all sides. The Premier, Sir John Robert-
son, made a speech full of laudation of the undei'taking.
Sir John Hay proposed " Success to the Enterprise " in
terms similarly enthusiastic. In reply to these congratula-
tory speeches, Mr, Mort said : — " There shall be no more
waste ! Yes, gentlemen, I now feel that the time has
arrived, or, at all events, is not far distant, when the various
portions of the earth will give forth their products for the
use of each and all ; that the over-abundance of one country
shall make up for the deficiency of another ; the super-
abundance of the year of plenty serving for the scant
harvests of its successor; for cold arrests all change. Science
has drawn aside the veil, and the plan stands revealed.
Faraday's uiagic wand gave the keynote, and invention has
done the rest. Climate, seasons, plenty, scarcity, distance,
will shake hands, and out of the commingling will come
enough for all, " for the earth is the Lord's and the fulness
thereof ; " and it is cei-tainly within the compass of man to
ensure that all His people shall be partakers of that ful-
112 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
ness." The next stage was the fitting up of a vessel — the
" Northam " — to take home a shipment of Australian beef
and mutton for the London market. Together with the
sura of £80,000 which Mr. Mort had expended in the costly
enterprise, the squatters of the colony who were interested
in the result of his experiment subscribed £20,000 to carry
the project out. Owing, however, to the action of the
chemical matter employed, the machinery broke down, and
the undertaking had to be abandoned for the time, after the
many years of toil and the princely fortune sunk in it by
Mr. Mort The failure affected Mr. Mort very much, and
he did not long survive it. A few months after the failure
of the " Northam " he caught a cold while attending a
funeral at Bodalla, where he was then staying. He died on
May 9th, 1878. His death was mourned throughout Aus-
tralia by all classes of the conmiunity. Some time after
liis death, a statue was erected to his memory in Macquarie
Place, in recognition of the services rendered by him to his.
adopted country.
Mr. Thomas Suicliffe Mort. Dr. John D. Lang.
Capt. Robert Johnston.
Mr. George Suttor. Dr. Richard L. Jenkins.
CHAPTER VI.
Georoe Suttor —Early Sydney— Despotic Days — Suttor's Vain-
Appeal FOR Justice— Sir Francis Forbes — A Heavy In-
dictment — The Liberty of the Press Endangered— A
Just Tribute — Sir John Robertson — Free Selection
Before Survey — Sir John Hay — An Opponent to Sir John
Robertson's Land Theory.
George Suttor.
" v» O book dealing with the lives of tlie pioneers of
y.-'^ New South Wales would be complete without some
»r\«l I'^ference to one of the sturdiest representative
^T^ colonists who ever set foot on Australian soil —
""iiri^ George Suttor.
George Suttor was born on the 11th June, 1776,
at Chelsea, where his father, a young Scotchman, carried on
the business of a gardener and fanner, renting land from Lord
Cadogan. The grandfather of George Suttor was a member
of the Edinburgh University, from which fact it may be
inferred he held a good social position if not an affluent one,
while his grandmother was said to be a sister of the Countess
of Linlithgow. His father was a witness of the battle of
Preston Pans. All his family followed the Stuarts, and,
consequently, became much reduced in circumstances.
Suttor, senior, liad studied botany under Mr. Lee, of Ham-
I
114 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
mersmith, who acclimatised the fuschia. In 1796, having
read " Cook's Voyages," and become acquainted with several
ships' officers who had visited Sydney, and, besides, being
engaged to marry, he was determined to try what a future
in the far off colony would bring forth. He obtained an
introduction to Sir Joseph Banks, who did all he could to
further his interest. On the occasion of one of his visits,
in 1798, Sir Joseph showed him the camellia, just intro-
duced by Lord Macartney from China, with the remark that
" he had been very ill when the plants arrived, and, when
somewhat recovered, he went to see them, and the sight
made him quite well." As they were walking through the
garden, the Tower guns were heard announcing Nelson's
victory at the Nile. Sir Joseph introduced the intending
emigrant to some members of the Ministry, who approved
of him as a collector of plants to be sent from England to
the colony, and to take charge of them on the voyage.
This was an honorary position, but, on his arrival, he was
to have a free grant of 200 acres, a house built for him, and
five or six assigned servants of the better class. The plants
consisted chiefly of grapes, apples, pears, and hop vines.
Two years and one month elapsed after the collection was
made before the colony was reached, some of the plants
were lost, but some of the best sorts of grape vines were
Ijrought to Sydney. In September, 1879, he sailed for
Sydney with his wife and shipment of plants in the old sliip
" Porpoise." Governor King and George Caley, the botan-
ist, were fellow-passengers. When the Bay of Biscay was
reached, a storm came on which damaged the "Porpoise"
so much that she had to put back. The vessel proved to
be unfit for further use, so Suttor had to remain till March
17th, 1800, before another start could be made for Aus-
tralia. This he did in a vessel recently taken from the
Spaniards and refitted and called the " Porpoise." They
EARLY SYDNEY. 115
arrived at the Cape of Good Hope in the end of May,
remained there till the 15th September, and reached Sydney
in November, 1800. Sydney at that time looked more like
a camp than a town — the streets liaving dead trees and
stumps in them. The New South Wales Corps occupied a
large space, living in huts. All the houses were tliatched,
the walls being made of wattle and plaster, whitewashed
inside and out. After landing, he sought advice of Gover-
nor King, who told him " he could not be troubled with his
affairs, and that he had better go to Parramatta." He went
to Parramatta, where he met his old friend Caley, and the
Rev. S. Marsden. On their advice and with tlieir assistance
he settled at Baulkham Hills, and took his grant of land
there. This grant remains in the hands of his family up
to the present time. In 1801 Colonel Paterson, of the New
South Wales Corps, gave him three young orange trees.
They were the first orange trees planted at Baulkham Hills.
This district is now celebrated for the production of the
fruit. Mr. Suttor, like all the early settlers, had to suffer
many hardships, and often wished himself back in his native
land. He, however, persevered in cultivating his orchard
and farm. He found it very difficult to educate his family,
but he and his wife imparted all the instruction they could.
In a written memoir of his the following passage occurs : —
"I had by this time (1805) become reconciled to the colony
and to the part of life I had chosen with my beloved part-
ner, in whose sweet society, and of our dear children, and
of a few choice friends, I felt happy, though I yet retained
a longing after my native land. I now saw, with my in-
creasing young family, the necessity of perseverance and
industry to succeed and become the founder of a family in
Australia. The early days of the colony presented many
difficulties. Want of roads and bridges, and better pro-
tection from the vicious portion of the convicts, who, at
116 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
times, inflicted terrible evils on the unprotected settlers,
particularly the free settlers, for whom they generally ex-
pressed hatred. The convicts believed the colony to have
been founded for them alone." On the 26th January, 1808,
being in Sydney, Mr. Suttor followed the troops through
the streets to Government House, as they marched to seize
Governor Bligh. He has left a bold account of that affair,
he says : —
"This year (1808) was marked by a memorable epoch in
the history of the colony. The officers of the New South
Wales Corps, who had, many of them, been nearly twenty
years in the colony, and who were magistrates and extensive
dealers in rum and other articles, and who monopolised all
influence and power, which they exercised with tyrannic
insolence, and deposed the Governor and assumed the
Government. They did this, headed by Colonel Johnston,
who was the dupe and catspaw of a triumvirate. The whole
affair was conducted by the military in a most lawless man-
ner. As a consequence, anarchy and idleness spread over
the land, the cultivation of which was neglected, and, this
state of things continuing for two years, many families
were involved in ruin. This event was productive iilti-
mately of much benefit to the colony, as it became rid of
the New South VVales Corps, who had been, for twenty years,
masters and monopolists, and generally set a very immoral
example."
It was about this time that his real troubles began. He
was asked to sign an address to Colonel Johnston, calling
upon him to seize the Government and the Governor. This he
refused to do, as he considered the document a most treason-
able one. This act of loyalty to the King's representative
made him very obnoxious to those who had deposed thtf
Governor. Soon after, two of his assigned servants wei'e
prevailed upon to bring accusations against him before
DESPOTIC DAYS. 117
Ensign Bell, of the 102nd regiment, recently appointed
magistrate by the rebel Government. The cliarge was to
the effect that he (Suttor) had said that "those who had
usurped the Government were a set of scoundrels, and they
should all be hanged, and their property given to the poor."
A summons was issued by the Judge Advocate appointed
by Johnston, and Suttor appeared at Sydney to answer the
charge. There was no proof that these servants had ever
heard him use such words, whatever he may have thought ;
so he was discharged, but his two servants were taken from
him, to the injury of liis farm. After the mutiny he was
asked to sign addresses recognising the necessity of what
had been done. This he emphatically refused to do. He
was threatened with further persecution. Colonel Foveaux
arrived in the colony on the 28th July, and, on the 31st,
issued a proclamation declaring his assumption of supreme
authority, although he knew that Governor Bligh was within
the territory, and was forcibly withheld from the authority
which he alone held from the King. On the 20th Novem-
ber, Foveaux issued an order requiring all free settlers or
others occupying or cultivating land in the colony, to attend
and be mustered before such persons, and at such places,
as he should appoint. Suttor took no notice of this order,
which he looked upon as illegal, and stayed at home attend-
ing to his business. On Sunday, the 25tli of November, a
convict visited his house, and, in a most insolent manner,
demanded to see him, saying, "he came by order of Colonel
Foveaux to know why Mr. Suttor had not attended the
muster." Suttor considered a message of that kind, and
by such a person, as a personal affront. He told the con-
vict " he would hold no communication with a person of his
kind," and ordered him ofi' his premises. On the 8th Dec-
ember, Foveaux sent an order to all persons at Suttor's
house, citing them to appear on Saturday morning at
118 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Government House, Parramatta. Sutter had previously
received a summons from Captain Kemp, the new Judge
Advocate, requiring him to appear in Sydney to answer the
charge of non-attendance at the muster. He feared the
ruin of his family, and, in the disturbed state of the country,
hesitated to leave his family and property. He wrote to
the Colonel, appealing to his humanity in the following
terms : — -
" I am informed that you have given orders for the men
in my employment to attend at Government House at six
o'clock to-morrow morning. But I beg you will suffer me
to tell you that one of them was indented to me by His
Excellency Governor King, and the other was indented to
me by His Excellency Govei-nor Bligh. If you mean to
deprive me of their servitude, I shall consider it an invasion
of my rights by taking an advantage of the exigencies of
the moment so as to terminate in my ruin. The treatment
I have met with since the command was taken from Gover-
nor Bligh, gives me reason to believe that conscience has
something to do in the business. If, by the present instance,
my family should come to destruction, the charge must lay
at your door, and I shall be under the painful necessity of
representing my case to Sir Joseph Banks, under whose
auspices I came to this country, and in whom I have every
hope my injured family will find a pi'otector." This letter
was delivered by one of ISIr. Suttor's servants to Colonel
Eoveaux, who seized the servants and arrested Suttor, who
was committed to gaol by some of the magistrates appointed
by Foveaux, to take his trial for the contents of his "threat-
ening letter." Being allowed bail, he appeared before the
court on the 15th December to the charge preferred against
him — that of writing a "contumelious" letter. He declined
to plead either "guilty" or " not guilty," as he considered
the court was illegally constituted. When pressed to plead
A VAIK APPEAL. 119
he addressed the court as follows : — " Gentlemen I bow to
you with respect, but the same motives which induced me
to decline mustering induce me to deny the authority of
this court ; I stand here a British subject and a freeborn
Englishman, and I claim the protection of my King and
country. To His Excellency Governor Bligh my allegiance
is due, and to him alone as the lawful and rightful Governor
of this territory, appointed as such by our Most Gracious
Sovereign. As to my person it is in your power, to that
power, therefore, I must submit. My unprotected wife and
children I leave to Almighty God till such time as the peace
of this country shall be restored." He was again urged to
plead, but refused. The court was then cleared ; he was
again taken in ; no evidence being taken. He was sen-
tenced by the Judge Advocate, who had taken his seat for
the first time on this occasion, and the military officers, of
whom the court was wholly composed, to be imprisoned in
the gaol at Sydney for six calendar months, and to pay a
fine of one shilling. He was confined in the old gaol in
George-street, Sydney, in a cell appropriated for convicts
under sentence of death, without any sustenance being
allowed him, and, only for the humanity of his friends, he
might have lain on the stones and died from want. He
was detained a close prisoner from the 15th December, 1808,
until 5th June, 1809, on which day he was set at liberty.
On reaching home he found everything in the greatest con-
fusion, and his family in great distress. On 17th February,
1810, Mr. Suttor was directed by letter from the Secretary
of the Colony, John Thomas Campbell, to hold himself in
readiness to proceed to England to give evidence in the
charges preferred against Colonel Johnston and Mr. McAr-
thur l)y Governor Bligh. On the 13tli April he embarked
on board the " Industan," and arrived at Spithead on the
23rd October. Suttor considered from Bli^h's conduct on
120 AUSTRALIAN PIONKERS AND REMINISCENCES.
the voyage home that "he was very pleasant and agreeable,
very attentive to the women and soldiers in the ship, and
a very humane man." The trial over, Johnston was cashiered,
and Suttor returned to Sydney. On arrival he says : —
*' No words can express the anxiety of my mind when we
entered the harbour, to learn my beloved wife and children
were alive and well. But soon I heard from Mr. R. Camp-
bell, who came on board as deputy harbour-master, that,
three days before, he had seen and spoken to her in good
health. In 1814 he was offered the appointment of Super-
intendent of the Lunatic Asylum at Castle Hill, an office
hitherto held by the Rev. S. Marsden. He did not find the
position a happy one ; on the contrary it was vexatious and
troublesome. In 1820 he retired from the position and went
back to his farm. About this time the colony was visited
by a scourge of caterpillars, which ate up the pasture,
causing a number of live-stock to perish for want of food.
Suttor was desirous of crossing the Blue Mountains, but
Governor Macquarie refused him the desired permission,
although other persons were allowed to do so. However,
he received permission from Governor Brisbane, and started
with a few hundred breeding ewes and a few cattle ; this
was in 1822. And soon prosperity smiled upon his labours.
In a few years, under his son's management, the hundreds
of sheep became thousands, and the tens of his cattle became
hundreds. He built a house in Sydney at a cost of £2,000,
where Allan Cunningham, the botanist, lived with him, and
where Leichhardt, the explorer, was a frequent visitor. On
the completion of the education of one of his sons at Cam-
bridge, in 1839, he went with his wife and daughter to
England, in a ship laden with much of his own wool. He
visited Ireland and Scotland, and the Continent, and, while
at Edinburgh, revised the article in Chambers' "Information
for the People," which related to Australia. While in
SIR FRANCIS FORBES. 121
France he investigated viticulture, recording his o1)serva-
tions in a Vjook published by Smith, Elder, & Co., under the
title "The Culture of the Grape Vine in Australia and
New Zealand." While in London he had the lienor, on the
motion of that eminent botanist, Robert Brown, of being
•elected a Fellow of the Linnoean Society. While in France
his wife died, and she lies buried in the cemetery of Rouen.
He returned to the colony, and, after living a short time at
Parramatta and Sydney, he took up his I'esidence at Bath-
urst, where he died in 18.59, at the age of eighty-three,
leaving behind him a record and a name which commands
the respect and admiration of every Australian on the
continent. He Avas, indeed, a worthy type of a sterling
Australian pioneer.
Sir Francis Forbes,
First Chief Justice of New South "Wales.
Looking back to the days of those whose names are inti-
mately connected with the growth of the Australian colonies,
few will be found to stand out more prominently, and certainly
no more honorably, than that of Sir Francis Forbes, the
first Chief Justice of New South Wales. The leading events
in the career of the late Sir Francis Forbes stand out in
bold relief. On his arrival in the colony in 1824, a new
order of things was introduced by the promulgation of the
new Charter of Justice, by which the old convict system
was done away with. The British institution of Trial by
•Jury took the place of martial law, and, what may be
<;onsidered a matter of still greater importance, the liberty
■of the Press was secured. Chief Justice Forbes held office
for only twelve years, but, during that time, much social
progress was made, and legislative freedom, as well as
freedom of the Press, became accomplished facts. It
should be here remembered that Sir Francis Forbes was a
122 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Liberal at a time when Liberalism did not exist in England
as it does to-day. He stood up against officialdom to battle
for the rights of the people, and paved the way for the
Constitution which W. C, Wentworth and his colleagues
brought soon after to so successful an issue. Francis Forbes
was born in the Bermudas in 1784. He was sent to Eng-
land at an early age to be educated. After going through
the usual course, he entered the chambers of Mr. Sugden,
afterwards the famous Lord St. Leonards, as a student-at-
law, in 1803. Nine years later he was called to the Bar at
the age of twenty-six, and the following year, 1813, was-
appointed Attorney and Advocate-General at Bermuda. He
remained there for three years, and was then appointed Chief
Justice of Newfoundland. He remained in this position
until he was appointed Chief Justice of New South Wales
on 1st June, 1823. He arrived in Sydney with his family
on 5th March, 1824.
Up to 1800 the colony, as has been stated, was governed by
martial law. For the first six years of settlement a large
number of persons suffered the extreme penalty of the law, yet
only sixteen of those executed were charged with murder.
The first victim under this martial law was a youth of seven-
teen, who was executed for petty theft two months after the
arrival of the first fleet. The lash was much in exidence,
and, for about forty years, every magistrate had the power
to order a flogging for the most trivial offence. One woman,
suspected of stealing a flat-iron, hanged herself through
sheer terror of the law. In 1839 a man was hanged for
receiving stolen property, and, a few yeai-s before, six men
were hanged together for being mixed up in an uprising
against the brutal treatment of their master, whose name
was struck off the Commission of the Peace for his atroci-
ties. Owing to the horrible cruelties inflicted on the convicts
by some of the masters, large numbers of them took to the
A HEAVY INDICTMEXT. 123-
bush. This went on to such an extent that, at the Criminal
Sessions in October, 1822, thirty-four persons were placed
in the dock and sentenced to death for bushranging. In,
1800, Judge- Advocate Richard Atkins arrived in the colony.
This gentleman had not received any legal training. His
appointment was procured for him through influence.
Amongst Governor Bligli's papers, after his deposition, a
letter addressed to the Secretary of State was found, recom-
mending his dismissal. Here is a passage from the letter —
"He has been accustomed to inebriety; he has been the
ridicule of tlie community ; sentence of death has been
pronounced in moments of intoxication ; his determination
is weak, his opinion floating and infirm ; his knowledge of
the law is insignificant, and subject to private inclination,
and confidential causes of the Crown, where due secrecy is
required, he is not to be trusted with." His conduct during
the trial of John Macarthur no doubt had a good deal to
do with the deposition of Governor Bligh. He was called
to England to give evidence on the court martial held on
Major Johnston, in connection with the deposition of Bligh,
and another Judge- Advocate was appointed, in the person
of Elias Bent, who arrived with Governor Macquarie, in
1809. During his term of office a new Charter of Justice
was issued, by which three regular courts were established.
The first court consisted of the Judge- Advocate and two
magistrates, taking cognisance of " pleas of land or subject
matter of action that did not exceed £50." The Supreme
Court consisted of a judge appointed by a commission
under the King's Royal Manual, and two magistrates
appointed by the Governor ; and the Lieutenant-Governor's
Court, which sat in Tasmania. Judge Baron Field arrived
in Sydney in 1817. The foundation of the Supreme Court,
King-street, Sydney, was laid on 4th June, 1819, and, in
1822, the first attorney, Mr. George Allen, father of the
124 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
^ate Sir Wigrani Allen, was admitted to practice. Three
imonths after the arrival of Chief Justice Forbes, Mr. Saxe-
Bannister, the Attorney-General, landed, and brought with
him a new Charter of Justice, which was promulgated at
<TOvernment House, the Court House, and the Market-place
by the Chief Justice. In 1824 the first Sheriff, Mr. John
Mackaness, was appointed. Mr. F. S. Mills was elected
first Registrar of the Supreme Court. The first ofiicials
were : Master-in-Chancery, Mr. J. Carter ; Solicitor-General,
Mr. John Stephen. Mr. Judge- Ad vocateWylde was appoint-
ed temporary Judge during that year. The new Supreme
Court of criminal jurisdiction was opened by Chief Justice
Forbes on 10th June, 1824. He had, of course, to organise
all the courts. It was through and by him that "trial by
jury " was first introduced at the Court of Quarter Sessions,
held at Liverpool, 14th October, 1824. The first Supreme
Court jury was sworn in the case of King versus Cooper,
12th February, 182.5, on Avhich occasion the emancipists
first made their appearance as a distinct class, demanding
their right to be enrolled on the jury lists. To test the
■question an order was served on the Sheriff, requiring him
to show cause why certain names submitted to him should
not be included in these lists. The Solicitor - General
appeared for the Sheriff, Mr. Wentworth and Dr. Wardell
representing the emancipists. The Chief Justice decided
that the application on afiidavit was irregular, and that
when a simple remedy — open in the present case — was
available, the " high prerogative writ of mandarmis could
not be applied for." The application was disallowed, and
the privileges asked for were not granted till 1833. Mean-
while, in 1827, a great meeting had been held in Sydney
by the Patriotic Association to consider the question.
On that occasion Mr. Wentworth spoke strongly in favour
of the principle, and moved the adoption of a petition in
i
THK LIBERTY OF THE PRESS. 125
favour of it. SlierifF Mackaness presided at the meetings
and was subsequently removed from his office for not exer-
cising his right and stopping " language offensive to church
and State." The petition was forwarded to Sir James
Macintosh for presentation, but he was unsuccessful.
Another unsuccessful attempt was made next year, on the
accession of William TV. Three years later the Full Court
decided that under the statute of 6th George IV., all free-
persons were entitled to the privileges of freedom ; this, of
course, settled the question. Chief Justice Forbes, who-
had reconmiended Sir James Macintosh's petition on the
ground that " New South Wales was fully as ripe for such
a change as any other dependency of the British Crown,""
presided on the bench on that occasion, Judges Burton and
Dowling assisting. It may not be considered out of place-
to here touch briefly on the battle waged for the liberty of the
Press in this colony. Sir Thomas Brisbane, through an
official letter addressed by Secretary Goulburn to the editor
of the Sydney Gazette, 15th October, 1824, recognised the-
liberty of the Press. This liberty was threatened in 1826
by Governor Darling. Sir Ralph Darling was then two'
years in the colony. Two soldiers named Sudds and Thomp-
son had committed an offi^nce in order that they might
be convicted, and, on their discharge, have an oppor-
tunity of improving their condition in life. After their
conviction and sentence, Sir Ralph Darling issued ani
order by which tlie two men were taken out of the hands
of the civil power, and returned to the ranks. They were
stripped of their uniform on parade, in presence of all the-
soldiers ; clothed in the convict garb, and iron collars, with
spikes and chains made especially heavy, were rivetted on
their necks and legs. They were then drummed out of the
regiment, and then marched back to gaol to the tune of the
" Rogue's March." Sudds died a few days afterwards fronii
126 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
exposure in the sun and the heavy chains, but chiefly from
the torture of mind he was subjected to before liis comrades,
Thompson became insane. This action of the official was
condemned by both Press and people. Wentworth wrote a
pamphlet on the subject, called " The Impeachment," in
which he said he would follow the Governor to the foot of
tlie gallows with the accusation. The editor of the Monitor
(Mr. E. S. Hall), was sentenced to twelve months' imprison-
ment for libelling Governor Darling. The editor of the
Austrahan was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and
fined £100 for a similar offence. It was at this time that
Governor Darling attempted to re-establish the censorship
of the Press, and Sir Francis Forbes distinguished himself
by so strongly protesting against it. The result was that
the Governor had to abandon the proposal. This was the
last attack made upon the liberty of the Press. In 1827 a
measure was proposed by Governor Darling in the Council
imposing a heavy duty on all newspapers published in the
colony. Under the Constitution Act, all measures passed
Iiad to receive the certificate of the Chief Justice that they
were in accord with English law. This measure was sub-
mitted to him in blank, and was so certified. The Council
subsequently filled in the blank with figures I'epresenting
the proposed duty. It was proposed by one member that
one shilling per copy should be charged, but a stamp duty
of fourpence was adopted. Tlie Chief Justice at once re-
fused his certificate to this imposition, which, he urged,
would eflectually crush out of existence every newspaper in
the colony. This conduct on the part of the Chief Justice
entailed the bitter enmity of the Governor, Sir Ralph
Darling, who made grave charges against him. These,
however, were easily repelled. The address presented to
Chief Justice Forbes on his departure from the colony,
remarked, among other things : — " To you, Sir, the first
A JUST TRIBUTE. 127
Chief Justice that was ever appointed to preside in our
courts, was delegated on your arrival the arduous duty of
organising those courts, so as to render them the means of
dispensing justice to the inhabitants of this colony, in con-
formity, as far as then lay in your power, with the
constitutional rights of our fellow subjects in the mother
country. This was the object submitted to your care, wlien,
although Chief Justice of the colony, you had no brother
judge to aid you in your arduous undertaking, and so well
did you perform this duty, that you at once raised the
Judgment seat in the estimation of the colonists to that
state of respect from which it has never, on any occasion
since, been sufiered to descend — an object of admiration for
the ability with which its difficult and arduous duties have
been so efficiently performed, and of veneration for, and
implicit confidence in, the undeviating purity of its decisions.
As a legislator and member of the colonial Government,
your character is entitled no less to our unqualified regard,
more particularly your uncompromising maintenance of the
constitutional rights of the colonists, as far as those rights
have been hitherto extended to this colony. Nothing but the
highest moral firmness and integrity, combined with that
genius and learning, for which you are so eminently dis-
tinguished, could have overcome the opposition and tlie diffi-
culties which you have had to encounter." Dun ngChief Justice
Forbes' residence in the colony, he applied himself so closely
to his duties, that his health gave way under the strain. He
left for England in 1836. While in England lie received the
honor of knighthood (6th Api'il, 1837). At the expiration
of his leave he found his health not sufficiently restored, so he
resigned his appointment in July, 1837. In the same year
he returned to Sydney, where he resided until his death, which
took place on 9th November, 1841. He married, in 1813,
Amelia Sophia, daughter of David Grant, M.D., of Jamaica.
128 australian pionkkrs and reminiscencks.
The Hon. Sir John Robertson, K.C.M.G.
There is no name in Australian history more honored and
venerated by all classes of persons than that of Sir John
Robertson. During his lifetime he rallied round him the
best spirits of his day, and assuredly if ever a man departed
from this earth leaving no enemies behind, that man was
John Robertson, " the father of free selection," as he was.
popularly designated.
Sir John Robertson was born at Bow, Essex, on 15th
October, 1816. His father was a Scotchman, his mother
English. When he was four years old his father emigrated
to Australia. He received his education at Dr. Lang's
college, in Jamieson- street, and at Mr. Cape's school,,
the boy being one of the tirst to enter Scot's College.
Finishing his education, he proceeded to his parents' resi-
dence on the Hunter, where they were engaged in pastoral
pursuits. He spent a portion of his time near Boggabri,
leading the usual life of a squatting youth in those days.
He did not take too kindly to this kind of life. Thus,
while still a mere youth, we find him working his passage
to England on board the ship " Sovereign." He remained
at sea for al)out two years, when he returned to the colony,
and started in pastoral pursuits. He married at the age of
twenty-one. While attending to the duties which his mode
of life required of him, his active brain dwelt a good deal
upon political matters as affecting the young colony, and
he was looked upon by the inhabitants of the north western
portion of the colony as their leader. He pleaded the cause
of the squatters before the Governoi", Sir George Gipps, who
was at the time curtailing the rights of Crown tenants.
Young Robertson's pleading, and clear and forcible state-
ment of the case, proved successful. Still a few years later
he was found urging tlie cause of the free selectors against
SIR JOHN ROBERTSON. 129
his own class, which shows the rectitude of his mind when
he saw the interests of the people lay one way, and the
interest of the class to which he belonged on the other side.
He never hesitated, but took the side which he considered
beneficial to the general public. After the passing of the
"Constitution Act," in 1856, Mr. Robertson was one of
the first to be requisitioned to stand for a constituency, and
his was the first address issued to the constituencies. He
lived to see most of the subjects laid down in that address
become the law of the land. Amongst the measures alluded
to we may mention the Public Lands, Electoral Reform,
National Education, and Abolition of State Aid to Religion.
He was elected for the Bligh, Brisbane, and Phillip con-
stituencies to the first Parliament under Responsible
Government. Daniel Henry Deniehy, Thomas Holt, W.
Macleay, W. B. Dalley, and James Martin were elected at
the same time for other constituencies. Some two years
after he became Minister for Lands in Mr. Cowper's
administration. When Sir John Robertson first brought
in his motion for free-selection before survey, he only found
nine members supporting him. When Sir Charles Cowper
formed his second Ministry, in 1857, Sir John Robertson
joined him as Minister for Lands and Works, which office
he held from January 13, 1858, to September 30, 1859.
The chief measure which that Ministry passed was the
Electoral Bill ; soon after, they were defeated on their
Education Bill. The Forster Ministry, which succeeded
them, lasted only a few months. Taking office again in
March, 1860, Mr. Robertson brought in his famous Land
Bill, which was, however, defeated by a small majority on
a motion brought forward by Sir John Hay. Mr. Robert-
son at once appealed to the people, and came back with a
large majority, all the members of the Cabinet being re-
elected. The Bill was re-introduced, and was carried easily
J
130 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
in the Legislative Assembly. The measure, however, met
with the most determined opposition in the Legislative
Council. Mr. Robertson resigned his seat in the Lower
Chamber, and had himself appointed to the Council, where,
notwithstanding the Conservative opposition, he secured the
passing of the bill into law.
Sir John Robertson was five times Premier : March 9,
1860; January 12, 1870; February 9, 1875, and August
17, 1877. He was Minister for Lands and Works in the
Cabinet of Sir Charles Cowper, January 13, 1858; Secre-
tary for Lands in the fourth Cowper Ministry, February 3,
1865, and in the fifth Cowper Ministry, August 17, 1870;
he was Colonial Secretary in the Martin Ministry, Decem-
ber 16, 1870; he also represented the Parkes Ministry in
the Upper House, 1878 ; he became Minister for Public
Instruction in June, 1880. He again became Premier and
Colonial Secretary on December 22, 1885. This Ministry
was only a sort of scratch Ministry, and retired from office
25th February, holding oftice for two months. In 1877 Sir
John Robertson was honored by a knighthood, in recog-
nition of his eminent services to the colony, he receiving
the title of K.C.M.G. at the same time as Sir Henry Parkes.
A writer in the Australian Portrait Gallery, some years before
Sir John Robertson's death, thus sketched his career : — " Sir
John Robertson's career has proceeded pari passu with the
development of our constitutional history. The dates of
its chief events are epochs in his public life, and the one
lends light and shade to the other. That public life has
been full of colour and character, presenting very few half
tones, and no neutral tints whatever. All things about the
man, even his mistakes, are clear and well defined. It is
difficult to gauge with strict accuracy the vast influence for
good of such tough fibre, interwoven so completely as it has
been through and through the variegated woof of our
SIR JOHN ROBERTSON. 131
colonial political life. The national character of a young
country like this is widely tinged and deeply impregnated
with that of its political rulers. Their individuality insen-
sibly impresses the public spirit which commits itself to
their care. The strong virility of Sir John Robei'tson has
established liim from the first in the front rank, and his
individual personality has never since failed to impress
itself on the opinions and political faith of his followers, as
well as on the entire political life of the country. On the
whole, it must be admitted that his general influence, apart
from his acts, has been for good. He has ever been a
staunch friend, always in the face of expediency or pru-
dence, though sometimes in the teeth of justice. As a
political leader he has never committed himself to those
mock oracular deliverances, meaningless and vapid in them-
selves, by which some politicians defraud the popular faith
and throw dust in the eyes of the people. He has never
stirred up class differences to bolster up a weak position,
nor revived those rabid sectarian cries and old-world bitter-
nesses, so much out of place in Australia, to strengthen
failing political power. His liberality has been consistent
throughout, and his disregard of class differences is only
equal to his contempt for those who profited by them.
Though never despising party tactics, his career has been
singularly free from petty subterfuges and whining cant,
ever taking his reverses and defeats manfully. As a speaker
he has always been eloquent, prompt, and effective. Through-
out his life and work, Sir John Robertson has amply justified
the popular choice of a leader in the very beginning of
Responsible Government. In reviewing both from their
commencement, the observer cannot but recognise the great
and varied use both have been to our political history, at
a time when it was of the first importance, that the general
character of its impressions should be good. In sounding
132 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
the heart of the country he will find, far down in its depths,
a deep strain of tenderness for the noble veteran whose
face and form are so familiar to every unit in the com-
munity. When most of the callow statesmen and immature
politicians of to-day, who essay to gain a perilous notoriety
by criticism of his work, have found their proper and native
level, the feeling of the country will be glad to glance back
at the history of the past, illustrated as it was by the virile
life and manful efforts of this fearless and intrepid leader
of the people."
After his retirement from public life. Parliament voted
him £10,000 in recognition of his public services. When
the Federation movement was foremost in men's minds, Sir
John Robertson always took up a most determined stand in
opposition, and, on the very day of his death, a letter, written
by him the previous day, was published in the Herald in
opposition to the Commonwealth Bill. He was present at a
picnic at Vaucluse the day before his death, at which he made
a speech against Federation. His death took place at his
home, "Clovely," Watson's Bay, on 8th May, 1891. His
funeral, which was a public one, was attended by all classes
and all creeds. The Governor (Lord Jersey), His Eminence
Cardinal Moran, the Admiral, and all the high dignitaries,
both civil and military, attended. Speaking at a meeting
held at the Cathedral on the Sunday evening of the funeral,
Cardinal Moran made the following reference to the late
statesman : — "Within the last few hours he had the privilege
of assisting at the great and well-deserved tribute paid by
the citizens of Sydney to the veteran statesman who had
been summoned by death, and relieved from all the troubles
and trials of the field of politics, and all the cares and
anxieties of our daily life. The veteran who had passed
away, had not among his compeers during his long and
eventful public career, one more remarkable for his whole-
SIR JOHN HAY. 133
heartedness in the building up and preservation of those
rights which he believed to be so essential to the greatness
of Australia. None had more faithfully served the colony
than he, none had been more jealous of the guardianship,
and none more courageous in the defence of the liberties he
had helped to win for the people of this fair land. It was
the duty of all true citizens and all true colonists to cherish
and guard the great liberties which were Australia's boast,
and the honor which had been paid that day to the remains
of their veteran statesman and champion, was but a fitting
manifestation of their grateful appreciation of Sir John
Robertson's services in defence of their rights and liberties.
During his long public life, the distinguished statesman
recognised and respected both the political and religious
rights of all classes in the community, and it was a cheering
thing, now that he had passed away, to be able to say of
him, as one of their representative Australian statesmen,
that he had never used his high position and great oppor-
tunities save for the public good ; that he had never lent his
aid to the creation of discord in the community, or to the
stirring up of the embers of religious strife. Recognising,
as a statesman having the country's welfare at heart, that
peace and concord were essential to Australia's prosperity,
he did his best, and for many years, to foster and extend
the growth of a broad and generous spirit in the land."
Sir John Hay, K.C.M.G.
The name of John Hay is thoroughly representative of
the pastoralist class. Upon his arrival in the colony he com-
menced his squatting career, and, during the whole of that
life, he always stood up for the claims of his class, both in
and out of Parliament. John Hay was born in Scotland,
at Little Ythsie, Aberdeenshire, and was educated at King's
College, Aberdeen. He proved a successful student, carry-
134 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
ing off the highest honors every year. In 1834 he took his
degree at the University, and then went to Edinburgh to
study law. He spent two or three years in Edinburgh, when
he heard such good accounts of the colony that he gave up his
studies and took passage for Australia. He arrived in
Sydney in 1838, and during that year he went into the
country and settled at Weleragang, above Albury, on the
Upper Murray. Mr. Hay remained there about eighteen
years, working hard for success all the time. Although
living so far from the seat of Government, Mr. Hay studied
all the political questions which agitated the colony. Con-
sequently it was no surprise to find him offering himself for
a seat in Parliament at the first election under Responsible
Government in 1856. Before this he uncompromisingly
opposed the Border Duties over the Murray. He was looked
upon as one of the most prominent men in this Parliament,
as was shown by his being chosen to move the vote of
censure on the Cowper Ministry, 17th September, 18-56,
the vote being carried. Mr. Cowper having failed to induce
Governor Denison to grant a dissolution, Mr. Hay was sent
for to form a new administration. But he declined the
responsibility. Mr. Watson Parker was then sent for.
This gentleman was at one time Private Secretary to Sir
George Gipps. Mr. Parker was successful in forming a
Ministry, Mr. Hay taking the position of Minister for Lands
and Works. Mr. Stuart Donaldson, who had formed the
first Ministry under Responsible Government, took the
Treasurership. Mr. Manning and Mr. Darvall assumed the
posts of Attorney -General and Solicitor -General respect-
ively, Mr. Deas-Thomson being Vice-President of the
Executive Council. This Ministry remained in office for
about eleven months, when they brought in a new Electoral
Bill. They were defeated by Mr. Cowper, who moved that
the Bill be read that day six months, which motion was
FREE SELECTION BEFORE SURVEY DEFEATED. 135
carried by twenty-six to twenty-three. The Government
tendered their resignation. Mr. Cowper again took office.
In 1858, under the new Electoral Act, the Murrumbidgee
electorate was divided, Mr. Hay sitting as member for the
Murray until 18G4. In this year he was elected for Central
Cumberland, which constituency he represented till 1867,
when he was appointed to the Legislative Council.
During the agitation for free-selection before survey, Mr.
Hay took a determined stand on behalf of the squatters,
and raised the greatest opposition to the principle. His
resolution against the clause was carried by thirty-three
votes to twenty-eight. The Ministry appealed to the con-
stituencies, and came back with a large majority. But such
was Mr. Hay's personal popularity, that, notwithstanding
his pronounced opposition to the free-selection before survey
clause, he was again returned by his constituents. On
October 14, 1862, Mr. Hay was elected Speaker of the
Legislative Assembly, in succession to Sir Terence Aubrey
Murray. He held the position till October 21st, 1865.
He remained in the Assembly until his appointment to the
Legislative Council on June 26th, 1867, and, on the death
of Sir Terence Aubrey Murray, Mr. Hay was appointed to
the position of President of the Council, which position he
held up to the time of his death, which took place at Rose
Bay, on January 20th, 1892.
CHAPTER VII.
Early Men of Genius and Power —The List Continued — Du.
Lang — A Blow to Convictism — Dr. Lang as a Reformer—
The Fight for Freedom— Dr. Richard L. Jenkins— The
Education of the Masses — William Cox — The Track over
the Blue Mountains — Hon. Henry Dangar — Myall
Creek — Hon. James White — Hon. David Jones — Alex-
ander Berry — William H. Hovell — Hon. Henry Mort.
The Rev. John Dunmore Lang, D.D.
N the early days of settlement in New
South Wales, clergymen of different de-
nominations took a very active part in
■f shaping the affairs of the colony. But none
I (X of them were more active than Dr. Lang.
|; »/>This was so not only in the political move-
ments of his time, but in the work of settling
a desirable class of settlers on the lands of
Similarly was he energetic in prosecuting all
movements taken to obtain free institutions. From the day
he first set foot on Australian soil, his life may be said to
have been directed towards advancing the various interests
of his adopted country. There is no doubt that there were
blemishes in his method of attaining the ends which he
fought for. But who can be said to be entirely free of
Australia.
REV. J. D. LANG, D.D. 137
fault"? One thing must be said of John Dunmore Lang:
his faults were faults of the head, and not of the heart.
To use his own words, " Although my course may have
been somewhat unusual and erratic, the candid reader will
•come to the conclusion that it has been uniformly the result
of a sincere desire to promote the best interests of the
Australian colonies."
John Dunmore Lang was born at Greenock, in Scotland,
August 25th, 1799. His parents were Scotch, and true
adherents of the Kirk, and had suffered in earlier years for
the Solemn League and Covenant. His parent moved to
Largs, in Ayrshire, when the subject of this memoir was
seven years old. He attended the parish school until he
was old enough to go to the Glasgow University. Like a
large number of the better educated of his countrymen, he
chose the church as his calling. In 1821, his brother, George
Lang, came to Australia, and the accounts which he sent
home of this country directed the attention of the divinity
student to Australia, as likely to give ample scope to his
missionary zeal. About a year after, having been ordained
to the Ministry by the Presbytery of Irvine, and taking his
degree as Master of Arts, he sailed for Australia, arriving
in Sydney in May, 1823. Sir Thomas Brisbane was then
Governor of the colony. He came from the same place as
the Langs, in the west of Scotland.
In the same year, 1824, the Scots' Church, in Jamieson-
street, was built and opened. Dr. Lang officiated in this
place up to the time of his death. About five years after
his arrival in the colony, he was desirous of establishing a
•college for the education of young men for the Presbyterian
Church, as well as for other educational purposes. He
•endeavoured to obtain convict labour for the purpose, but
■Governor Darling refused to assist the project in any way.
In 1830, Dr. Lang went to England, and, whilst there,
138 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
obtained from Lord Goderich, who was then Secretary of
State for the Colonies, an order on the colonial Government
for <£3,500, on condition that a similar amount was pre-
viously spent by the promoters on the undertaking. £1,500
of this were allowed by Lord Goderich to be applied to the
payment of passages of a party of Scotch mechanics, to be
selected by Dr. Lang, the party to consist of fifty or sixty.
Those mechanics were to be employed in the erection of the
buildings, and the cost of their passages was to be deducted
from their wages. About sixty Scotch families — black-
smiths, carpenters, stonemasons, plasterers — arrived in the
colony by the "Stirling Castle" in October, 1831. Dr.
Lang had another object in view in bringing out this class-
of immigrants, which he expressed at the time. He says : —
" Previous to this period, there were only two classes in the
colony — the free emigrant gentlemen settlers, with their
large grant of land of from one to two thousand acres and
upwards, their flocks and herds, and their numerous convict
servants. These were, in their own estimation at least, the
aristocracy of the colony. The other class consisted exclu-
sively of the emancipated convict labourers and mechanics,
who were congregated chiefly in the towns. In such cir-
cumstances it appeared to me that the formation of a middle
class in the colony was indispensably necessary to its moral
welfare and social advancement."
This project met with great opposition, and Dr. Lang took
another trip to England in 1833. He returned to Sydney
in 1835, and started the Colonist newspaper, "for the
furtherance of the moral and intellectual development of
the colony." He conducted this paper with his usual vigour,
and it was not long ere he was called upon to defend more
than one libel action. One of the actions was taken against
him by the emancipists, a class of persons whom he steadily
opposed, from the first, with all the talent and influence
DR. LANG AS A REFORMER. 139*
which he could possibly command. In this case the writer
defended himself in an address of remarkable strength
and point, which resulted in the withdrawal of the prosecu-
tion. Subsequently the Colonist commented upon some of
the vices of the day, coupling with them the names of some
well-known members of the community. For this he was
fined £100, which was promptly subscribed and paid by the-
public. In 1851 Dr. Lang was sentenced to four months
imprisonment, and a tine of ,£100, for criminally libelling
Mr. Thomas Icely. In this case his fine and legal expenses
were paid by a shilling subscription.
In 1836 Dr. Lang made another voyage to England,^
bringing back with him about two hundred and fifty vine-
dressers for New South Wales, under engagement to his
brother, Mr. Andrew Lang. However, on the way out, they
altered their determination and settled at Rio de Janeiro.
A numl)er of missionaries from Berlin came out with the
Doctor, and established an aboriginal mission at Nundah,
near Brisbane, in 1838. During this visit he arranged for
the bringing out to the colony about four thousand Scotch.
artizans and herdsmen. Dr. Lang was elected in 1843 as
member for Port Phillip in the first Legislative Council.
On the motion of Dr. Lang, a select committee was
appointed in 1844 to consider the subject of franchise and
representation ; Dr. Lang was appointed chairman. The
committee recommended that the franchise be extended to
farmers and squatters ; the recommendations were not,
however, carried into effect. He was the first to move for
the adoption of a twopenny postage rate for the colony,.
which was vetoed by Sir George Gipps. It became law
during the reign of his successor. It was he, too, who moved
that Port Phillip should be erected into a separate and
independent colony. At that time six members repre-
sented what is now the colony of Victoria, and, from among
140 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
all the members repi^esenting New South Wales, only one
solitary vote was cast in favour of the motion for separation,
and that vote was given by Mr. Robert Lowe. Dr. Lang
recommended that the members for Port Phillip should send
to Her Majesty the Queen a petition on the subject through
the Governor. He drew up the petition, which was for-
warded in due course, and, about nine months after, a
reply came from Lord Stanley, then Secretary of State
for the colonies, favourable to the petition. It was not,
however, till July 1st, 1851, that Port Phillip was pro-
claimed a separate colony under the name of Victoria. In
1846 Dr. Lang took another trip to England, for the purpose,
he acknowledged, of counteracting the eifects of the inflow
into the colony of large numbers of Irish immigrants. He
considered this could only be checked by bringing out larger
numbers of protestant immigrants. The only thing he
accomplished in this direction was that he selected a number
of Scotch immigrants, with a view to settling them in the
northern portion of the colony, on a cotton plantation which
he proposed starting. This project fell through owing to
the fact that land grants, which he expected to be given to
the immigrants, were refused. Most of the immigrants were
landed and settled in the Moreton Bay country, and they
assisted largely in making that colony what it is to-day.
Many of them rose to eminence in the young colony, and
became wealthy as time went on.
Shortly after his return to the colony in 1850, he was
■elected to represent the city of Sydney. He was accused
of having made money out of his immigration scheme, by
the Parliament and the Press. He issued an address to his
constituents, offering to resign his seat if they approved of
the course taken by his accusers. His supporters held a
public meeting, at which they expressed their entire satis-
faction with their representative. This induced him to hold
THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM, 141
his seat. At the next elections, 1851, he was serving four
months' incarceration in Parramatta gaol for the Icely libel.
He was nevertheless elected at the head of the poll, Messrs.
Wentworth and Lamb being his colleagues, Messrs. Long-
more and Charles Cowper being defeated. After his
release he made a speech in the following terras : — " He
congratulated his fellow citizens on the position which the
city had taken up as the heart of the whole Australian
group. The heart of the colony was in right action, and
the blood it would send into the limbs and branches of the
otlier colonies would infuse life into the whole political
system. Personally he thanked them for the certificate of
character which they had given him, and which, he doubted
not, would serve a future purpose, not only in tlie colony,
but in England, if it should be his fate to go once more
home. They were all aware of his eftbrts to arouse public
feeling at home, in order to obtain justice for the colonists
of the empire generally ; but in making those efforts he
had aroused the wrath of the Colonial Ofiice against himself.
Some comments had appeared in the London Daily News,.
stating his election last year had been accidental, and that
the constituency took no part in the extreme views he held,
particularly as to the right of a colony to entire freedom
and independence. He had risked his present election,,
however, on a strong expression of that opinion. It was
from no feeling of disloyalty that he professed these opinions.
God forbid that he should feel disrespect for the authorities
of the old Fatherland ! But while he yielded to no man in
respect, in veneration, for the constituted authorities of the
mother country, he would never hesitate to express his
conviction of the right of any colony of the Crown as soon
as it could stand on its own legs, to entire freedom and
independence. He held that a common language, a common
literature, a common law, and a common religion, constituted
142 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
an inBnitely stronger and more binding tie than those which
kept them now under the domination of Downing-stroet,
and whenever the day came that they should have a flag
of their own floating over the splendid series of colonies
founded in Australia, he felt confident that Great Britain
would rejoice with them, and would say, ' Many daughters
have done virtuously, but thou, Australia, hast excelled
them all. ' " In the following February he resigned his seat
in the Council, and paid another visit to England. Dr. Lang
died 8th August, 1878, the immediate cause being a rupture
of a vessel in the brain.
Liberty may be taken here to give a few extracts from
a speech delivered by Sir Henry Parkes at a meeting held
at St. Leonard's, on the first anniversary of Dr. Lang's
death, for the purpose of promoting the erection of a statue
to his meiiiory. The well-known statesman said " he came
to Australia with an expansive intellect, a brave spirit, a
■capacity for work and mastering the details of life, and with
a quality which has been accounted the greatest of all human
qualities — the power of gentleness. It has been said that
the quality of all others that wins a man's way in the world
— that conquers difliculties, that makes friends, that plants
a reputation — is not brilliant attainments in science, not
great learning, not the endowment of an eloquent tongue,
but tenderness of disposition. . . . He attended to
public matters, promoted public movements, all of which
had a tendency to dispel the midnight darkness of those
days, and teach the people to fit themselves for the good
time which was in store for them, and which, full of all the
liberties of true-born Britons, was sure to come, which was
iervently believed in, and which, in the fulness of time,
•came with all its plentitude of power and privilege. A
man who presented this noble figure in those early days,
and struggled ever with a brave heart, and a loving dispo-
A PLEASING TRIBUTE. 143
sition towards his fellow men, his one object being to place
his fellow-colonists safely and deeply in the land, to educate
them and tit them for the making of a great nation — a man
who did all this is worthy pf some testimony to his un-
doubted greatness, and the fruits which have flowed from
his exertions, it is, I am afraid, and I must say it, hardly a
compliment to the well-to-do citizens of this part of the
metropolis that they stay at home, even on a night like this,
on such an occasion as the present. A man moving in that
circle of thoughtfulness and cultivated men who form, as it
were, a kind of zone between the privileged and aristocratic
classes and the mercantile and working classes of England
— that zone, if I may use the word, of intellectual force
which is so attractive to us all in the mother country — a
man conspicuous in that band of intellectual progress has
said that great men grow, like grapes, in bunches. It is a
homely expression, but one with a wonderful power of truth.
In the history of the world we see periods of barrenness —
the period of little minds. The history of England gives
you many such sterile and une\entful periods ; and occasion-
ally a group of men arise, and they nearly always do arise
in groups, fitted in the most supreme manner for the work
of forming society and directing its' movements, and con-
structing the machinery of government. Such a group of
men, in an eminent degree, appeared in England in the time
of the Stuarts — Pyni, Hampden, and their great associates.
Such a group of meii, by something like a miracle, appeared
in the throes of the American revolution — Washington,
Franklin, Adams, Jeiferson. Probably never on the face
of the earth was there a company of great minds more tit
for laying the foundation of a great nation. Though the
population of the American colonies in that day did not
excel in numbers the population in Australasia to-day, still
in that population appeared a group of men who have no
>■
144 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
superiors in the work of government in all the range of
human history. In a less remarkable manner there appeared
in tliis country, in its early days, a group of men who cer-
tainly were eminently fitted to struggle with the dark times.
Of those the very father of the Australian Press was
Edward Smith Hall. If there ever was a journalist with
a true conception of his great functions, it was this early
•conductor of a Sydney newspaper. There was William
Bland, a man who had all the faculties for conceiving the
true position and the true duties of a -free citizen. Then
thei^ was William Charles Wentworth, who had a colossal
power which has seldom, been equalled. And then there
was John Dunmore LtCiig, who p.erhaps excelled them all
in the combination of the qualities which form real human
greatness — that is, his bravery, ready to face anything if he
thought he was right, his grasp of intellect, his untiring
capacity for work, and, above all, that tenderness of spirit,
that power of gentleness, without which it has been said,
and, I believe, truly said, that no man can ever be truly
great."
Richard Lewis Jenkins, M.R.C.S. Eng., L.S.A. London.
One feels privileged in placing on record even what must
be an imperfect sketch of such a man as the late Dr. Jen-
kins. He was a man of gentle birth and high culture,
broad views, advanced ideas, and of a hvimane and philan-
thropical mind. He paid much attention to the subject of
popular education for the masses. He favoured compulsory
and free education. Some of his views were regarded as
quite eccentric. Yet they have since been embodied in the
" Public Instruction Act." But while advocating compul-
sory and free education, he did not forget to point out that
the religious training of the children should be attended to
as well as the training of the intellect.
\
Hon. David Jones. Hon. James White.
Hon. John Faikkax.
Hon. Henky Mori Cai-t. O'Keili.v,
I
DR. R. L. JENKINS. 145
Richard Lewis Jenkins was the fourth son of Richard
Jenkins, of Newport, Monmouthshire, and Elizabeth, his
wife, eldest daugliter of the late William Vaughan, of Caer-
philly, Glamorganshire. He was descended from the Jenkins
family of Panty Nawell, members of which, in the sixteenth
century, and frequently since, held the office of High Sheriff
of Glamorganshire. After receiving his diplomas he
practiced for some time at home, but, his health becoming
impaired, he was obliged to leave England and seek a
warmer clime. He came to this colony in 1841 as medical
officer on board the ship "James Moran." The passengers
of that vessel presented him with an address and testimonial
expressing their gratitude for the kindness and services
rendered by their medical officer to every one on board. He
practiced his profession for some time on the Hunter River,
and afterwards turned his attention to pastoral pursuits.
He gradually accumulated stock, and soon became the owner
of several stations on the Peel and Namoi Rivers. Being
possessed of great energy and tact, he forced that success
which always comes to him who exercises those qualities.
In 1857 he removed to Sydney, where he took a very active
part in the political life of the colony, and was soon elected
to represent a large constituency. At this time Responsible
Government was just commencing in the colony, and Dr.
Jenkins' fitness for public life being acknowledged, he was
at once elected to a seat in Parliament. His chief desire
was to elevate the masses, and he worked hard to bring this
about. He delivered a lecture in the hall of the Mechanics'
School of Arts on the subject on 21st November, 1859.
Sir Charles Nicholson occupied tlie chair on the occasion,
and among those present were Professors Woolley and Smith,
of the Sydney University, the Hon. Saul Samuel, Messrs.
Plunkett, Parkes, and Macarthur. In the course of his
lecture Dr. Jenkins remarked : — ■" A few years ago a friend
K
146 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
of mine who had not paid much attention himself to public
education, hearing me advocate my views in perhaps rather
an earnest manner, observed that he thought I was rather
mad on the subject. Taking leave to differ from my friend,
I, on the contrary, am more disposed to believe that I have
a mission in the matter- — -a mission inconceivably grand —
of no less magnitude than to assist you fellow-colonists, in
placing within the reach of every child an intellectual, a
moral, and a i-eligious education. If this be madness, then
my desire is that not only my friend, but that all present
and all absent should become equally touched, and that
there should be no sanity in this community until the cause
of the madness is removed, or, in other words, until we have
universal education."
This quotation indicates the state of public opinion at
that time. Liberal and advanced as were the views of Dr.
Jenkins, few persons at that time were prepared to go so
far in the matter of education. Most of those of the old
school believed more in the lash and the hangman than in
the ameliorative policy as laid down by Dr. Jenkins. The
old leaven of the Imperial regime had not died out. It
takes a long time to forget the teachings of the school.
Further on in the same lecture Dr. Jenkins said : — " Ex-
perience has but too often proved that the best way to make
a confirmed villain of a young thief is to sentence him to a
common gaol. Many a young rogue would be restored to
society through the agency of a reformatory school who
would otherwise have had his evil habits confirmed if allowed
to mix with older prisoners in gaol. It must be apparent
that both reformatory and industrial schools are well adapted
to dry up the Aery sources of crime."
These words contain a principle which is now acknow-
ledged, and voiced through the statute book of the colony, and
no doubt as occasion arises will be even more fully recognised
DR. R. L. JENKINS. 147
and acted upon. Reformatory schools have been established
and have done a vast amount of good ; still there is plenty
of room for far greater developments in this direction.
After three years work in Parliament he retired from
political life, partly through having purchased the Nepean
Towers Estate, near Penrith, and partly owing to failing
health. At Nepean Towers he carried out to perfection the
breeding of shorthorn cattle, for which, at the shows held
in the principal towns in the colonies, he received the high-
est prizes. In 1873 he read before the Agricultural Society
a valuable paper on the " Considerations which should guide
the graziers and breeders in New South Wales," Sir Hercu-
les Robinson, the Governor of the colony and President of
the Society, being in the chair. This paper caused a good
deal of discussion, and contained a large amount of valuable
information. Dr. Jenkins was a leading churchman, and a
regular attendant and speaker at the annual meetings of
the Synod. He died at Brisbane on the 13th August, 1883.
He left a wife and eight children, three sons and tive
daughters. The second son is Dr. Edward Johnstone
Jenkins, born 24th October, 1854, and educated at Mac-
quarie Fields, and King's school, Parramatta. At King's
school he took the Broughton and Campbell scholarships.
He went from there to Trinity College, Oxford, taking
degrees as Bachelor and Master of Arts, with honors
in natural science and Doctor of Medicine. He was House
and Ophthalmic Surgeon at St. Bartholomew's, London,
and qualified M.R.C.S. in 1881, and M.R.C.P. and L.S.A.
in 1883. He arrived in Sydney in February, 1884, where
he has practiced his profession. His elder brother married
a niece of the present Earl of Powis, and of the Dean of
Hereford. Dr. Jenkins was married in Sydney on 1st
January, 1852, to Mary Rae, eldest daughter of the late
Major Edward Johnstone, of H.M. 50th Regiment. Tlie
148 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
tidings of his death caused a feeling of profound sorrow in
Sydney, vA'here he was universally honored and respected.
But the good work he did has left enduring traces. His
influence was an elevating one.
William Cox.
The name of William Cox takes us back to the early days
of the colony ; to the beginning of this century. The
history of the Cox family, if written at length, would, in
many respects, be the history of the colony. William Cox
came to the colony in the first year of the present century.
He occupied both a military and official position, a position
he held with credit to himself and benefit to the land of his
adoption. As a magistrate of the territory he fulfilled his
duties most efficiently, always remembering that his lot was
cast, as well as the lot of his family, with the colony and
its future. As a contractor in the time of Governor Mac-
quarie, Mr. Cox also did good work. Later on he started
in pastoral pursuits with such energy and success as to place
him in the front rank of the wool growers of the colony.
He took special interest in the breeding of fine-woolled sheep
at Mudgee, and spared neither time nor expense to improve
the staple of the wool until he placed the name of his station
(Clarendon) at the head of the list.
Mr. Cox was born in 1764, at Devizes Wilts, being the
second son of Robert Cox, of Wimbourne, Dorset. He
joined the army as a commissioned officer in 179.5, and came
to New South Wales in 1801 as paymaster of the New South
Wales Corps. Mr. Cox succeeded Mr. John MacArthur at
the time the corps was ordered to India for its part in
the Bligh episode in 1810. Mr. Cox and other officers
resigned their commissions and remained in the colony.
He first settled at Brush Farm, on the Parramatta River,
and afterwards at Clarendon, on the Hawkesbury. He
OVER THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. 149
gave all his time to agricultural pursuits for some years, and
made large profits. At Brush Farm he had the notorious
General Holt as manager. Holt had been transported for
his share in the Irish rebellion of 1798. Holt published
his recollections, which throw a light on the manner in
which things were conducted in those early days of the
colony. The detachment of the corps to which Mr. Cox
belonged had charge of some of the deported Irish "patriots"
who had been concerned in the uprising — ^Holt being one of
tlie leaders. In his position of manager, Holt proved himself
thoroughly efficient. In 1814, when Went worth, Blaxland,
and Lawson discovered the track across the Blue Mountains
to Bathurst Plains, Mr. Cox was chosen by Governor Mac-
quarie to construct the road. He had command of unlimited
labour, and his aptitude in selecting and his ability to direct
men, enabled him to form an excellent road in a very short
space of time over this very rough and dangerous pass.
The road, one hundred and thirty miles in length, crossed
the Blue Mountains from Sydney, bridged Cox's River,
which was thei^eby connecting Bathurst Plains with the
coast. Governor and Lady Macquarie, the year after its
formation, drove in a carriage over this road, which was
highly spoken of by Surveyor Oxley in his published reports.
For this service Mr. Cox received a grant of land on the
Bathurst Plains, which he called Hereford. He next went
into pastoral pursuits, and purchased some of the first ship-
ments of merinos from the Cape, the progeny of which now
form the celebrated Mudo;ee flocks. He L'ave considerable
time and attention to the staple of wool and breeding of
colonial sheep, with the best results. Later on Mr. Cox
took up land in the Mulgoa Valley, his three sons, George,
Henry, and Edward, following in his footsteps, his eldest
son settled at Hobartville, Richmond. His second son
" sat down " in Tasmania, where he acquired a large estate
150 AUSTRALIAN PIONEKRS AND RKMINISCENCES.
called Clarendon. He also formed stations on the Mac-
quarie River, naming them Burrendong, and on the Coolah
Creek. In 1833 he removed from Clarendon to Fairfield,
near Windsor, where he resided up to the time of his death,
which occurred in 1837. He was buried in the fcimily vault
of St. Matthew's Church.
A i^ecently published memoir says of Mr. Cox ; — " There
is nothing in his career either questionable or unmanly, and
his name does not occur in connection with any of the old
records of misused influence or abused power that tell the
reader of our history of to-day how little fit many of the
early official military officers were to conduct the delicate
experiment which the home authorities heedlessly committed
to their care. Mr. Cox fought his way in the open, and
what he won was the fair reward for his personal energy
and sound practical sense. His influence over men in his
employ as a contractor and agriculturist, was largely the out-
come of his manliness towards them. Treating them as men,
he earned from them the respect and regard which such treat-
ment always produces, with the effect that they never shirked
work, and the detachments under his command were always
noticeable for their results in the shape of honest labour. As
a consequence his contracts were numerous, and he was
deservedly held in high estimation by the different Governors
who held office during his time. Mr. Cox was a magistrate
of the territory, and was looked upon as the local represen-
tative of the Government in the district in which he lived."
Henry Dangar.
Mr. Dangar was descended from a French protestant
family, which settled in Jersey at the time of the revoca-
tion of the Edict of Nantes. The family came over to
Cornwall early in the eighteenth century. His father owned
a farm at Neots, in that county. Here Mr. Dangar was
HENRY DANGAR. 151
born in 1798. Being of an adventurous turn of mind, lie
and his brothers came to Australia. He was then about
twenty-three years of age, and was blessed with a robust
constitution. He obtained a situation as assistant Govern-
ment sur\'eyor, and was occupied for about six years in a
survey of the Hunter River district. In those days land
was easily obtained from the Government, the one condition
being that a portion of the grant should be cultivated. In
this way, in 182G, he obtained seven liundred acres, which
now forms portion of the Neotsfield Estate, one of the finest
in the district. It is related how Mr. Dangar was chased
over this very land by wild blackfellows. During the time
Mr. Dangar was employed as a surveyor he laid out the
town of Newcastle. In 1828 Mr. Dangar returned to Eng-
land for the purpose of publishing his map of the Hunter
district, and a directory or immigrants' guide in connection
with it. Both of these works are now obsolete, but the
accuracy of their topographical observations were never
questioned. He returned to the colony in 1830, and was
for two years under Sir Edward Parry, the Arctic explorer,
who was then general manager of the Australian Agricul-
tural Company at Carrington, their headquarters. It was
at this time Mr. Dangar took up, for that Company, Warrah,
Liverpool Plains. In 1832 Mr. Dangar ascended the Hun-
ter in a boat, and settled at Neotsfiekl, devoting himself
from that time to pastoral pursuits. At this time he fitted
out an expedition under the charge of William Gostwyck
Cann, about as fine a specimen of the Australian bushman
as ever trod the soil. After encountering many obstacles,
and suffering many privations, they came upon the country
now known as Armidale, close to the city of that name, now
the capital of New England. Mr. Dangar's sons still retain
large and valuable tracts of magnificent land in that part
of the colony. About the year 1836, pushing their way in
152 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
a north-westerly direction, tliey took up the splendid tract
of country known as Myall Creek — the scene of a terrible
massacre in the early times. The true motive for this histori-
cal occurrence may never be known. Mr. Dangar unavailing-
ly exerted himself in behalf of the perpetrators of the crime.
In 1845 he was elected as the representative of Nor-
thumberland in the first partly elective and partly nominated
Legislative Council. Previous to this, in conjunction with
Messrs. Wentworth, Macarthur, and others, he espoused the
unpopular side by supporting Earl Gi'ey in his policy of
continuing transportation to the colony. As is well known
the agitation led to the total cessation of transportation.
He was re-elected in 1848, but, beyond opposing the land
policy of Sir George Gipps, he abstained from party strife.
Mr. Dangar was one of the first in this colony who practi-
cally tested the tinning of meat as a paying industry. He es-
tablished a factory at Newcastle for the purpose, and, although
the mode of preserving was a success, the cost of labour and the
uncertain market led eventually to the closing of the works.
After speiiding some twenty-five years improving his
property and his stock, he visited England in 1853, where
he remained three years, but, his health failing, he returned
to Sydney. After five years of continuous infirmity, he died
on 2nd March, 1861. "Mr. Dangar (says a late writer),
was a favourable sjDecimen of one of tiie numerous sturdy
young sons of England who seemed specially formed for the
creation of a Greater Britain in Australia. Favoured by
none of the special gifts of intellect or fortune, but possess-
ing the pai'ticular qualities essential to the attainment of
success — strong common sense and resolute energy — he
availed himself of the opportunities of the times, and, in
gaining a moderate share of that success, he had the grati-
fication of contributing to the development of a great colony,
within the limits of which his name was well known.
james white. 153
The Hon. James White, M.L.C.
The Hon. James White's reputation stands, both as owner
and racer, absolutely above reproach. His successes on the
course, as well as at the stud, were simply phenomenal. As
a pastoralist and large station owner lie was equally well-
known. Indeed, in every walk of life in which he moved,
he was honored and respected by all classes of the com-
munity. James White was born at Stroud, near Port
Stephens, New South Wales, on 19th July, 1828, being the
eldest .son of Mr. James White, of that place, and after-
wards of Edenglassie, near Muswellbrook, Hunter River.
James White was educated at tiie King's School, Parramatta,
-during the head-mastership of the late Rev. Robert Forrest.
He studied at the King's School for four years, and for
another four years with the Rev. Mr. McGregor, at West
Maitland. At this time his father died, and he left his
studies somewhat earlier than he would have done but for
his father's demise. His father owned the estates of Eden-
glassie, Timor (which is a propei'ty on the Isis, a tributary
of the Hunter), and Baroona, on the Barwon River, about
forty miles below the junction of the Namoi, and above the
junction of the Castlereagh. Mr. White had to commence
the management of these estates at the early age of sixteen
years, residing at Edenglassie. A few years later he took
up the Narran Lake, a fine stretch of country some twenty
or thirty miles from the Barwon Station. In those days
the aboriginals were numerous, and, in many parts of the
country, hostile to the settlers. They gave no trouble to
Mr. White though, a fact which bears testimony to the
statement that they were always well treated. Some time
after, he purchased Belltrees, a large freehold estate on the
Upper Hunter. This he bought from Mr. W. C. Wentworth.
He also purchased the Waverley Estate, the two forming
154 AUSTRALIAN PIONKERS AND REMINISCENCES.
perhaps the finest estate in the settled districts of the colony.
He stocked all these properties with cattle, horses, and
sheep. Belltrees wool fetched the highest price in the
English market. Later on Mr. White purchased Martin-
dale, below the junction of the Hunter and Goulburn Rivers.
Afterwards he bought Merton and Dalowinton, opposite
Martindale, and, while on a visit to England, he secured
Segenhoe, one of the largest freehold estates in the colony.
All these properties were extensively improved. The fat
cattle from Martindale always took the highest prizes at the
different shows on the Hunter. Bando Station, on Cox's
Creek, Liverpool Plains, and Ferridgerie (near Coonamble),.
on the Castlereagh, were also added to his properties.
In 1866 Mr. White was returned to Parliament for the
Upper Hunter, which he represented for three years, when
he resigned prior to leaving for England and the continent.
He was absent for some years, visiting the principal cities
of Europe and America. He purchased Cranbrook, Rose
Bay, on his return from this trip.
In 1876 Mr. White bought tlie fine racehorse Chester
from Mr. E. K. Cox, of Mulgoa. Chester was by Yatten-
don, a son of the famous Sir Hercules. His new owner
won with him the Melbourne Cup and Derby, known as
" the great double," and several other races. Mr. White-
kept his breeding stud at Kirkham, and his racing stables
at Rand wick. He never had fewer tlian ten to fifteen horses
in training at one time, and with one or other of his horses
he won every important race in the colonies. In 1888, at
the Autumn Meeting, he won nine principal races in Vic-
toria, the prizes in all amounting to about £8,000. Hales,,
the well-known jockey, rode on these occasions. Mr. White
was nominated to the Upper House in 1874, a seat in which
he held up to the time of his death, which took place at
Cranbrook, on July 12, 1890.
david jones. 155
The Hon. David Jones, M.L.C.
The name of David Jones is a household word all over
Australia. It required no small amount of energy and
enterprise to lay the foundation and continue the super-
structure of one of the very first business houses in a
country. David Jones was born in Caermarthen, South
Wales, in the year 1792. At that time the English language
was not much used in Wales. Young David was brought
up quite ignorant of English, and when he left Wales he
could only speak in Cymric. While still young he went to
London and obtained employment, and soon mastered tlie
language. By steady application and much industry he
made himself useful to his employers, Messrs. Nicholls^
wholesale drapers. After some years spent in London,
finding his prospects not up to his desires, he looked
elsewhere for advancement. Thus it was that, in 1834,
he determined to leave England, and sailed with the
other members of his family for Hobart Town, Tasmania.
He there opened a drapery establishment under the name
of "Appleton and Jones." He did not long remain there.
In the following year he reached Sydney. He opened a
retail drapery establishment on the site now occupied by
Farmer & Co., and for some years did a large and increasing-
business. The partnership with Appleton was dissolved in
1838. Mr. Jones removed to premises at the corner of
George and Barrack - streets, where the business is still
carried on. Mr. Appleton remained in the old shop in Pitt-
.street, Mr. Jones carrying on under the style of David
Jones & Co. He continued in the management of the
business up to 1857. when he retired into private life. But
he soon after went back into business. His successors, from
various causes, were unable to carry on. At the age of
seventy years he started to rebuild the old business, and, in
156 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
a few years, succeeded in doing so, and was in a position to
retire into private life with an assured income for the
remainder of his days. Mr. Jones was always ready to
acknowledge and reward merit in others. During his busi-
ed o
ness career he took into partnership nine of his employees.
He was at one time an alderman of the city, and for years
s, member of the Legislative Council.
Mr. David Jones died on 29th March, 1873, at Lyons-
terrace, Sydney, at the advanced age of eighty years. The
leading Sydney print made the following observations on his
demise : — " As the head of a numerous family and large
establishment, he exercised a valuable influence, always on
the side of religion, order, and progress. Thougli for some
years a member of the Legislative Council, he did not take
a conspicuous part in politics, but during many years he
maintained a high commercial reputation, chequered indeed
by the vicissitudes which no one could escape. An event
so long expected, and at so late a date, must confine the
sense of bereavement to immediate connections and friends.
But the loss of a citizen who has always done his part in
advancing the welfare of the city, and assisted in every
beneficent undertaking, must always produce a sense of
regret. Mr. Jones held the office of deacon in the Congre-
gational Church, in Pitt-street, for five and thirty years.
The religious denomination to which, by conviction, he
iDelonged, shared largely in the donations and subscriptions;
but he was generous to other churches, and contributed con-
siderably to our public charitable institutions."
Alexander Berry.
The strong personality, the physical strength, the in-
•domitable will and energy, together with the liigh scholastic
training, fitted Alexander Berry in every way to achieve
the success which he attained. The impress of the man's
ALEXANDER BERRY. 157
powerful personality is visible to-day in that part of the
country over which he held sway for so many years. For
productiveness, wealth, and contentedness, it may be truly
said that the Shoalhaven district will bear the most favour-
able comparison with any disti'ict in Australia.
Alexander Berry was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in the
year 1781. He received his earlier education in the county
town, the late Sir David Wilkie and Lord Campbell being
his school mates. Later on he studied at St. Andrew's, and
at Edinburgh. At the latter university lie studied with a
view to take his degree in medicine. On leaving the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh he entered the East India Company's
service, and was a passenger from England to India in the
same ship as Colonel Despard, who, at a later date, was in
command of the 17th Regiment in Sydney. Mr. Berry
having left the East India Company's service, settled in New
South Wales during the administration of Governor Mac-
quarie, and commenced mercantile pursuits. He made
several voyages to New Zealand and other parts of the
South Pacific, which turned out profitable to him. For this
description of work he was well qualified, being possessed
of high courage as well as great intelligence. It was in
1808 that he first visited Port Jackson as master of the
" City of Edinburgh." In 1809 he was in command of this,
vessel at the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, to obtain a cargo
of spars for the Cape of Good Hope. While obtaining his
cargo of spars he distinguished himself by rescuing the sur-
vivors of the "Boyd." In December, 1809, the Maoris at
the Bay of Islands came to Captain Berry and told him
tliat a British ship had been taken by the natives at Whan-
garoa, a harbour some fifty miles south of where he then
was. After he finished taking in his cargo, he determined
to go round to Whangaroa, with a view to saving any of the
missing crew. He started with three armed boats, leaving
158 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
only a small number of his men to look after his vessel.
Very bad weather overtook the party, and they were obliged
to return to the ship. However, he made a second attempt,
which brought him to the harbour of Whangaroa, where he
found the " Boyd " in shoal water, with her cables cut, and
burned to the water's edge. In her hold were the remains
of her cargo — coals, salted sealskins, and planks. Her guns,
iron standards, etc., were lying on top, having fallen in as
tlie vessel burned.
Captain Berry was very popular among the Maoris, and
to this popularity he undoubtedly owed his life on this
occasion. He opened direct communication with the native
chiefs and their people. He soon learned the fate of the
captain and most of the crew, the mate being the last man
killed about a fortnight after the vessel had been seized, the
Maoris holding a high cannibal feast during the time. Only
four Europeans escaped — one woman, two female children,
and a ship's boy named Davies. It was only by the deter-
mined stand Captain Berry took in dealing with the
chief, Tipahi, and other chiefs, that he succeeded in getting
possession of the four survivors, and taking them off in the
boats to his own ship and away from New Zealand. The
mother of one of these two girls had been a passenger from
New South Wales to England, and was brutally murdered
by the Maoris. The child was the daughter of Mr. Com-
missary Broughton, of Appin. The woman who was saved
died at Lima. The rescued lad Davis was given work
by Mr. Brown, the owner of the " Boyd," but was
drowned at sea some years later. It would appear that the
master of the " Boyd " was not blameless in the matter, as
he had unnecessarily provoked the natives. Captain Berry
wrote from Lima to Mr. Brown, 20th December, 1810,
reporting the loss of the " Boyd " and the rescue of the
survivors. He afterwards, at the request of Mr. Archibald
EXPLORING THE SHOALHAVEN. 159
Constable, published a further and more extended account
of the affair. From this it appeared that the chiefs, Tupi
and Tarra, took Captain Berry with them to where the
wreck was lying, and caused the survivors to be handed
over, seeing them safely placed on board the " City of
Edinburgh." Those who had been concerned in the outrage,
frankly, and not without pride, confessed to their participa-
tion in the massacre. The natives alleged that the ship was
attacked because the master, Captain Thompson, had sub-
jected a chief to some degrading punishment for a theft
committed by one of his people. Having succeeded in
rescuing the survivors of the "Boyd," and completing his
cargo. Captain Berry finally sailed from New Zealand on
the 6th January, 1810. Captain Berry returned to Sydney
and settled in the colony. In those early days he was
also a cultivator of the land in a large way, and received
a large grant of land in the Shoalhaven district, which
he discovered and explored about the year 1820. His clear
and active mind was alive to the fact that it would greatly
improve the district if the tShoalhaven River could be opened
out to the sea, instead of terminating in a sand bar over
which shallow water washed. The difficulties in the way of
carrying out such an enterjDrise in the early days of the
colony were looked upon, by most people, as practically in-
surmountable. But the determined and educated Scotchman
set to work and started the cutting of a channel from the
lower end of the Shoalhaven Biver, near Coolangatta, to
the Crookhaven River. Having obtained a large number
of assigned servants, the work was proceeded vvith until the
waters of the Shoalhaven flowed into the Crookhaven, thus
making the Shoalhaven a navigable river.
In a paper read before the Philosophical Society of Aus-
tralia, in the year 1822, Mr. Berry gives a description of
his first trip to the Shoalhaven River. He went there
160 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
with Lieutenant Johnson. They got across the sandy
isthmus of the mouth of the river into the deep waters
of tlie I'ivei', and pulled twenty miles up the stream until
stopped by a rapid. This paper was published in 1825 by
Baron Field, in his geographical memoirs of Australia. Mr.
Berry was a man of extensive knowledge, thoroughly well
read in most subjects, and was possessed of a wonderful
memory. He was literally brimful of anecdotes of the early
days of the colony. Some years before his death he was
assailed in an objectionable manner by a colonial news-
paper. The Berry tenants, by way of marking their sense
of the absolute injustice of such an attack, entertained Mr.
Berry and his two brothers, David and John Berry, at a
great dinner at Numba, nearly every person in the district
being present.
Mr. Berry was one of a numerous family. He was mar-
ried to Miss Elizabeth Wolstoncroft, sister to Mr. Edward
Wolstoncroft, who was at one time in partnership with Mr.
Berry, and who died in Sydney on the 7th December, 1832.
Mrs. Berry died on 11th April, 1845, aged 63. She left
no children. She is buried with her brother at the St.
Leonard's cemetery.
Mr. Beny was a member of the Legislative Council at
the time when there were only three non-official members,
and, after the modification of that body, lie retained a seat.
In May, 1856, he was re-appointed a member of the Upper
House, and remained there till May, 1861, when he re-
signed in consequence of failing health. He resided for
some time before his death at the " Crow's Nest," St. Leon-
ards. He died on 17th September, 1873, at the ripe age of
92. He is buried beside his wife at the cemetery, St.
Leonard's.
Hon. Ai.ex. Berry. Mr. J. Lansuale.
Mr. W. H. Wiseman.
Mr. N. V. MoRRissET. Capt. W. H. Hovell.
I
W. H. HOVELL. 161
William Hilton Hovell.
Scarcely sufficient prominence has been given by writers
of our early historical events, to the work performed by
Hume and Hovell, in the first days of the colony's history.
It is well to bear in mind that in those times there were no
camels with elaborate appointments to carry comparatively
large supplies long and swift journeys. On the contrary
the equipments were both rude and limited.
W. H. Hovell was born at Yarmouth, April 26th, 1786.
He became a master mariner, and arrived in Sydney, accom-
panied by his wife and two children, in the year 1813. He
followed the sea for about six years, trading to New Zealand
and along the coast until 1819, when he retired from the
sea and settled on a farm at Narellan. From his home he
made several short exploratory trips. In 1824 he joined
Mr. Hamilton Hume on the great journey overland to
Western Port, or Port Phillip. The party consisted of Mr.
Hamilton Hume, Mr. W. H. Hovell, and six convicts ; three
horses, and two carts drawn by four bullocks. The party
started from Appin on October 2nd, 1824, and arrived at
Hume's station. Lake George, on the 13th of that month,
starting on the 17tli towards Yass. Space will not permit
a lengthy notice of the trip. Here is a description of how
they crossed the Murrumbidgee : — They determined to
make the attempt, without further delay and whatever
the risk, of crossing tlie river — an operation no sooner deter-
mined on than effected. The body of a cart being substituted
for a punt or boat, and the end of the tow-rope having been
conveyed across the I'iver, in the course of four or five hours
the whole of the supplies, including the cart, were landed,
without loss or injury, on the left bank of the Murrum-
bidgee. The horses and bullocks were then conducted sepa-
rately across the stream, though not without considerable
L
I
162 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
risk, by means of the tow-rope. "The details of the crossing
are given thus : — " The green timber not being sufficiently
buoyant, and not being the season of the year when the
bark could be peeled off the trees, a raft or boat could
not be made. One was, however, improvised out of one of
the carts, which was stripped of its axle, wheels, and shafts,
and covered with a tarpaulin. The next step was to convey
tlie stout end of a stout rope to the opposite bank, for the
purpose of plying their boat backwards and forwards across
the stream, to effect which object, Mr. Hume, with one of
the men, undertook the dangerous enterprise of swimming
across the rivei", taking with them a small line of about six
feet long, which they carried between their teeth, and to
the middle of which was attached a line of a similar des-
cription, but of sufficient length to reach across the stream.
This was not done without great difficulty and some danger,
both from the rapidity of the torrent and the great pressure
of water on a length of line so considerable, the weight of
the latter not only retarding the progress of the swimmers,
but at times dragging them almost under the water, so that
they were swept down the river a considerable distance ere
tliey could reach the opposite bank. One of the ends of
their intended tow-rope was now conveyed across the
river by means of the line, and, everything being in
readiness, and the boat, not carrying less than six or
seven cwt., made its first trip. The bullocks and horses
were then conducted across separately, some of the bullocks
being in a state of almost complete submersion during the
operation, and, one of them becoming turned upon its back,
remained in that position a considerable part of the passage.
These difficulties were attributable partly to the cattle not
being accustomed to swimming, and partly to the dangerous
rapidity of the stream, which, with tlie roughness of the
weather, and the coldness of the water, contributed to
DISCOVERY OF THE MURRAY. 163
render this undertaking, to the swimmers at least, not less
unpleasant than it was evidently hazardous." Following
the Murrumbidgee down some distance they steered a south-
westerly course, passing over very good country. On 8th
November they came in sight of snow-capped mountains,
this being the first time that snow had been seen by white
men in Australia. After eight days further travelling they
came upon a large river, which they called the Hume, after
Mr. Hamilton Hume's father, but which is now known as
the Murray, the king of Australian rivers. This river was
crossed in somewhat the same fashion as the Murrumbidgee,
minus the dray. On the 24th they crossed the Ovens River,
on 3rd December they came upon another river, which they
named the Hovell, which is now known as the Goulburn.
On the 16th December they arrived at the sea shore, close
to where the town of Geelong is now built. After two days
rest the party started back and arrived at Lake George, on
the 18th January.
This trip led to the settlement of Victoria, and it is
pleasing to note that the party was led by a young native-
born Australian. Tlie only regrettable feature was that
unpleasantness should have arisen between Hume and
Hovell as to which was the leader of the party. The results
of the expedition were ample to cover both with sufficient
honor to gratify most men. In 1826 Mr. Hovell accom-
panied Captain Wright, of the Buffs, to form a settlement
at Western Port. They sailed in H.M.S. "Fly," October
9th, 1826. In 1829 Mr. Hovell went to reside at Goulburn.
He died in Sydney in 1876.
The Hon. Henry Mort, M.L.C.
One of the men instrumental in a large degree in develop-
ing the vast resources of Australia is Henry Mort. He
was born at Willow Field, near Bolton, Lancashire, England
164 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
on 31st December, 1818. He was educated at Manchester,
Ills youth was spent there, in fact he lived there up to the
age of twenty-three. In 1838 his brother, Thomas SutclifFe
Mort, who had been engaged in that city, came to New
South Wales. Henry followed three years later, in 1840.
Soon after his arrival he went up country. In 1842 he
went to Moreton Bay, where he engaged in pastoral pursuits,,
that country being at the time part of New South Wales.
He remained there for fourteen years, and saw the successes
and reverses, the good seasons and the bad ones, the floods
and the droughts, the liigh prices and the low prices of wool
which ruled during those early days of Moreton Bay. He
was one of the pioneers of Queensland, in fact, and was acquain-
ted with the country long before its great prospects could
be gauged, or its untold wealth dreamt of by the most
sanguine well-wishers. In 1855 he returned to Sydney. A
year later he joined the great wool-broking firm of Moi't
and Company, which was founded by his brother in 1843.
At this time the market for the sale of the squatters' wool
was most precarious. The starting of the Messrs. Mort in
this business gave them a reliable and assured outlet for
their produce, having regular public sales in Sydney instead
of sending the wool to England thi'ough middlemen, they
could sell for cash on the spot, thereby saving the heavy
charges made by the middlemen, as well as heavy banking
interest on advances.
Thus commenced the great wool-broking business of Mort
and Co., so well known throughout Australia, and, for that
matter, all over the mercantile world. Within the last few
years Goldsbrough and Co., of Melbourne, amalgamated with
Mort and Company, the firm being now known as Golds-
brough, Mort, and Co., the largest wool-broking business in
the southern hemisphere. Attention to business concerns
has not withdrawn Henry Mort from other duties of citizen-
I
HENRY MORT. 165
ship. In the second Parliament of the country he occupied
a seat as member for West Moreton. On tlie separation of
the colony of Queensland in 1859, he threw in his lot with
the mother colony, where his chief interests lay, and was
elected member for West Macquarie. In 1861 he stood for
Paddington, but was defeated by Mr. John Sutherland, who
was elected for many years a member for that electorate without
opposition. In 1879 Mr. Henry Mort was appointed a life
member of the Legislative Council of New South Wales, a
position which he still holds. He married, in 1846, Mai'ia,
the third daughter of Commissary-General Laidley, by whom
he had issue three sons and three daughters. In 1878 he
married a second wife, the widow of Dr. Rowland Traill.
And now, having looked into the past, and by memories
of men of genius and power who helped to make the Pres-
ent, viewed the gradual uplifting of the mother colony, let
us peep into the antecedents of her youngest offspring —
■Queensland.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Youngest Colony — Eakly Days of Qdeensland — The
Western Men— The First Squatters — The Lesliks — The
Condamine, McIntyre and Weir Rivers — The Incursions
of the Blacks — A Western Notable — Paddy Macinnon —
William Miles — The Dearth of Labour — Rough Times —
An Early Election — A Risky Undertaking — Beck and
Brown.
Early Days of Queensland.
OOK in 1770, and Flinders about 1802, were
the earliest of our own countrymen to touch
g) the shores of Queensland, and, in 1822, con-
victs were sent up from Sydney, Moreton Bay
being made a sort of a " chapel of ease " for
Port Jackson in that line of merchandise.
Brisbane succeeded Humpybong as the "settle-
ment," and a fence was put across the neck
of land where our metropolis now is, with slip rails at
Petrie's Bight and the North Quay, and when the bullock
teams meandered in at one and out at the other, they made
a track which afterwards became Queen - street. Allan
Cunningham found his way later on over the Main Range
from the west, and then the Leslies and others ch-ca 1840
over from the Darling Downs.
The area of pastoral occupation was extended yet more
into the blackfellows' territory, but not without bloodshed.
Many a terrible melee took place, with a whiz of brutal
spears and the ominous hum of the boomerang and nullah
mingling with the sharp report of the double-barrelled gun
THE DAYS OF THE PIONEERS. 167
and I'iflecl carbine, with now and then a rush and a vicious
dash in the open, and anon a crafty ambush behind some
huge rock or tree, and bore witness to the l)loodshed,
and many a life in God's image on both sides was
quenched ere the dusky warriors, all red and white ribbed
alternately in their battle paint, yielded up their hunting
grounds to the whites. Many a pretty bush station, where
ladies in muslin and silks now safely dwell, and walk or
ride as they please, has its humble mound neatly fenced
where sleeps the stockman or shepherd untimely slain by
spear, boomerang, or tomahawk, between '43 and '55.
Yes ! Time was when the blacks of Queensland used
their spears and boomerangs on the whites. Now that is
all changed. You see warlike King Jacky, of Caboolture,
in the streets of the city with a brass plate hung by a
chain round his neck, setting forth his name and birth. He
carries a bundle of clothes-props, while his wife bears an
assortment of some of the loveliest and most stately ferns
from distant scrubs, which you can buy at 3d. and 6d. a-piece.
It is difficult to say who were the first white men who
roamed northwai-ds over the border that now separates
Queensland from New South Wales. Most probably it was
some nameless runaway and unrecorded convicts ; but Major
(Sir Thomas) Mitchell and Allan Cunningham were the first
recognised white men over the line, followed, some years
later, by Mr. Patrick Leslie, in March, 1840.
I believe the late John Campbell, of Redbank, Ipswich,
was the first man to take up pastoral country and form a
cattle camp in what is now known as Queensland territory,
on the north side of the Dumaresq or Severn River. That
was in Januai-y, 1S40. He was quickly followed by Patrick
Leslie, in March of the same year, who struck out still
further north on Allan Cunningham's track, guided by a
chart of his route. Toolburra was his first location, a neat
168 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCKNCES,
little station not far from Warwick. The Upper Conda-
mine and its boggy affluents watered this splendid country,
where experienced station hands asked £100 to £150 a-year
and their food as the lowest price at which, in 1840, they
would work for the "boss," and face the plentiful wild blacks
as well. New South Wales, of course, at this period, inclu-
ded Victoria and Queensland, up to the South Australian
border, and the enterprising "pushing out" spirit was just
as active westerly as northerly, for at this time Mr. Samuel
Macgregor, afterwards of Brisbane, was helping to take up
Eumarella, near the South Australian border, in Western
Yictoria, for Hughes and Hosking, of Sydney, a station
which, in after years, was owned by Ben. Boyd, of Twofold
Bay. But, to return to the northern pioneers. Joe King
and Sibley followed George and Patrick Leslie on the march,
and "sat down" on another of the Condamine affluents, and
called it King's Creek, now the Clifton run. Arthur Hodg-
son and his partner, Elliot, took up Eton Vale. Never
before nor since was a choicer district for pasture lotted out
amongst plucky even if not always lucky explorers. Joe
King was a brother-in-law of the late Hon. James Taylor,
M.L.C., of Cecil Plains, both having married sisters of Martin
Boulton, another early Downs man. Cecil Plains, I believe,
were named after Cecil Hodgson, a brother of Sir Arthur,
of that ilk. John Campbell pushed out and took up that
magnificent run " Westbrook," while Henry Hughes and
Fred Isaac " collared " " Gowrie " from the Crown, two as
faultless and flower-carpeted ranches for slieep and cattle as
wide Australia holds, and the summer and the winter made
up the year 1841 when all these events happened. R. Scou-
gall, of Liverpool Plains, near the Upper Hunter country,
sent Henry Dennis up north exploring, and the huge Jim-
bour run was tlie prize that fell to his lot. Dennis took up
Jondaryan (smaller but richer than Jimboui), for himself.
THE LESLIES. 169
Tfvingdale, which adjoined it, was named after Mr. Irving,
for whom the Warra run (afterwards Thorn's), was taken
up by Dennis, who also secured Myall Creek (Dalby), for
Charles Coxen, a nephew of Gould, the great ornithologist
■of Australia. Yandilla and Tumniav^ille, two huge princi-
palities like average English counties in size, were taken up
\>y the Gores in those early days, and they were richly
grassed like all the rest of the Downs. There was, however,
fl,nother direction from which the Darling Downs were being
approached, viz., from the east. Sir Thomas MacDougall Bris-
bane, of Makerstown (N.B.), an old lieutenant of Sir Arthur
Wellesley in the Peninsular wai', had come to succeed
Lachlan Macquaine as Governor of New South Wales in
1822, and gave his name to the deepest navigable river in
Australia, on the banks of which a penal settlement, to
relieve Sydney and Port Macquarie, was founded. Traces
of him and his are to be found on that river. He had a
young officer named Ovens in his suite, whose youthful wife
died soon after her arrival in Australia, and " Ovens' " Head
(as that point on the Brisbane River where the picturesque
Boggo cemetei-y lies used to be called in the olden days),
was, no doubt, named after Lieutenant Ovens. The lion-
hearted Patrick Leslie, a Bayard amongst explorers, was
accompanied only by one man, a "prisoner of the Crown,"
named Peter Murphy, in his dauntless strike out into the
wilderness of the then unknown Downs. " Darkey Flat "
(near Warwick), where they get gold now, is the only place
where the blacks came near Pat. Leslie, and a shot fright-
ened them away. Peter Murphy, at Leslie's intercession,
got his freedom from Sir George Gipps, and died a sergeant
of police at Bowen, Port Denison, a few years later.
The Leslies, Patrick, Walter, and George, came from
county Al)erdeen, where their father was a " laird " or land-
holder, and their first effort in Australian life was dairy
170 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
farming near Parramatta. Their father sent out his groom,
George Macadam (who afterwards kept the Sovereign Hotel,
in Queen-street, Brisbane), to help and work for them, as
well as other of his Scottish servants, as being more reliable
than the convict labour then available. Mrs. P. Leslie,
who, as well as Mrs. Geo. Leslie, was a Macarthur — a name
mixed up as inseparably with the first wool growth of
Australia as is the name of Leslie with the exploration
of Darling Downs. His wife was the first white woman
who set foot on the said Downs. The Leslies never had any-
trouble with the blacks, for they kept them at a distance,
and never allowed them to hover about the station and the
men's huts, which is how most quarrels originate that end
in the use of spear, boomerang, and carbine bullet. Patrick
Leslie sold Goomburra to Robert Tooth, of the Kent Brewery,
Sydney, in 1856, and went home to Scotland, but afterwards
came out again and 1)0Ught an estate at Waikato, in New
Zealand, where he was in 1877, and, after selling that, he
settled and died in Sydney, a " white man " to the end of
his days — modest, brave, chivalrous, fearless of danger, and
ready to face any odds at all times.
Yes, Patrick Leslie was as white a man as ever walked
the earth. He was a Scotsman, too ; at any rate he was
a native of Aberdeen, and I doubt whether Scotsmen will
quarrel with this qualification. He came out in the interests
of his uncle Davidson, a banker, of London, to manage a
station property near Cassillis, on the Hunter. This uncle
Davidson, I might mention, was father of Gilbert and Wal-
ter Davidson, who once owned Canning Downs. " Darkey
Flat," near Warwick, owes its name to Patrick Leslie, who
so named it because it was the only place the niggers would
approach in those days, and then a shot in the air would
frighten them away.
But let us go more into detail and discover the pioneers
THE DOWNS SETTLERS. 171
out of whose efibrts has sprung the great staple industry of
the colony.
In 1850 the settlers on the Condamine, M 'In tyre, and
Weir Rivers were, as I have already mentioned, Patrick
Leslie (Canning Downs), Fred. Bracker (manager for the
Rosenthal Company, at Rosenthal Station, near Warwick
township), John Crowther, general manager for the Com-
pany at St. Ruth, Lochinvar, and other runs in New South
Wales. Bracker shortly afterwards selected on his own
account at Warroo, on the M'Intyre Brook, when John
Deuchar became manager of Rosenthal and St. Ruth. The
Downs men were — ^John Gammil, of Clifton and Talgai ;
Captain Mallard, at Felton ; Hughes and Isaacs, of Gowrie
and Westbrook ; Andrews, of Jondaryan ; Russell and
Tayloi", Cecil Plains (James Taylor residing on the station) ;
Gore and Co., Yandilla, with Willis as manager ; Captain
Vignolles, Western Creek ; Thomas De Lacy MofFatt, at
Stonehenge ; Michael Daisey, Mclntyre Brook. Canal
Creek Station was then owned by Ben. Boyd, and was
without stock. Beck and Brown's sheep were on Hamil-
ton. Morris, Young, and Goodfellow were the owners of
Callandoon. T. De Lacy Moftatt at this time stocked
Wyaga with sheep, Chas E. S. Bowler being in charge.
Canal Creek Township, or, as we know it, Leyburn, was
just forming, and Graham's inn was hardly completed. In
January, 1850, Paddy Murrin's blacksmith's shop and Mar-
tin Boulton's had just been opened, and in March of the
following year Harry Kirby had completed and opened the
second public house in the mushroom township.
From Myall Creek (now Dalby) down the Condamine,
the country was occupied something in this way :— Finlay
Ross on Greenbank, J. P. Wilkie on Daandine, Sir Joshua
Peter Bell on Jimbour, R. R. Mackenzie on Warra Warra
(or Cobble Cobble), Matthew Goggs on Chinchilla, J. G.
172 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Ewar on Wombo. and Leonard Edward Lester on Tieryboo.
Lester brought about 10,000 sheep from Eundarra, New
South Wales, to stock this run, which stock reached the
station at the end of 1850 or early in 1851. The former
owner, Perrier, of Tieryboo, had sheep there, but had to
remove them and abandon the run on account of tlie blacks.
Edwards also had sheep on the Dogwood at the same time
as Perrier was at Tieryboo, but he also had to remove the
sheep and quit the run, afterwards named Bindian by
Charles Coxen, who took it up and foi'med the station, stock-
ing it with sheep in June, 1851. About the same time
Beck and Brown's sheep settled on a part of Bindian run
-(about six miles down the Dogwood Creek, below the spot
where Bindian head station was then forming). Beck and
Brown's sheep, with Brown in charge, remained on Bindian
run about a year or so, being the furthest out sheep. A
■couple of Wallan shepherds were killed by the blacks just
^fter the native police settled at their barracks at Wanda-
ganba, on Channing Creek, about the end of 1851. The
former police barracks were at Callandoon. The police,
with John Ferritt, went southerly with the view to capturing
the murderers, but failed. Later on, however, the police
went out again and brought back a black known as Simpson,
who, according to some accounts at least, had had nothing
to do with the business. But the police in those days were
by no means particular. It was only a hlackfellow after
all ! Brown, who had named the blackfellow, urged that
•Simpson was innocent, and declared that he had never left
his camp for days before the murders were committed, having
•during that time been minding lambs. But Brown's plead-
ing was useless. That night. Beck (Brown's partner), ai'rived
■at the camp, and was told of what had happened, and that
the police had gone on with the unfoitunate blackfellow in
•charge. Beck at once decided to follow up the tracks of
THE SOUTH WEST COUNTRY. 173
the police, which he did by the aid of a black. Beck pulled
up the police in the scrub, making for Wallan, with Simpson
in irons. Beck explained the circumstances connected with
Simpson, who was liberated, and accompanied his rescuer
back to Brown's camp. Simpson was never able to clearly
express himself in plain English, but he several times gave
a practical demonstration of the fact that he had not for-
gotten those who had saved his life.
Dulacca country was taken up by John Crowder, of
Weranga, but it was not occupied till about 1^854. All the
country for hundreds of miles west from Beck and Brown's
sheep camp on Dogwood Creek had been taken up some
years, but not a single acre at this date was occupied with
the exception of Noorandoo, taken up by the Halls, of
Dartbrook, and stocked with cattle. Weribone was also
taken up and occupied by cattle of Dartbrook. Talavera
was secured by Joseph Flemming, and stocked with cattle.
Yaniboogle was then close to Talavera, and not very far
from the present town of Surat. It was occupied by the-
Crown Lands Commissioner, whose name for the moment
escapes me. Noorandoo, Weribone, Talavera, and Yam-
boogie were all formed about 1849, the occupiers coming in
by the Maitland route from the New South Wales side by
what is now known as St. Geoi'ge, but which at that time
had never been approached from Moreton Bay.
About 1849 James Alexander Blythe(Blytheand Chauvel,.
the latter a son of Major Chauvel, of Sydney and Clarence),
took out sheep to settle on the fine country west, and " sat
down " for a time on what is now known as Bungewarra or
Mount Abundance, and for a time at what is now known
as Blythedale. But the blacks proved too many for them.
Blythe was speared in the thigh, and, as he said, only saved
himself by having a good horse. After this they cleared
out, selling their sheep. Blythe, however, took up UnduUa
174 AUSTRALIAN PIONKERS AND REMINISCENCES.
after this — a well watered place, but very poor country.
Blythe knew from previous experience what the want of
water was, and, if anything, was a too great believer in
watered country. He often erred in this respect, but, in
1851, had settled down at Undulla, or Palmy Creek, which
he stocked with cattle. One of the stories told of Blythe
and Chauvel shows the sort of stuff both pioneers were made
of. They had been reduced to the last piece of dried damper,
wliich, on being cut, stuck to the two table requisites. One
of theni then closed his eyes, and was asked by the other
which he would have — knife or fork — and thus it was
decided who should have the best or largest piece, if there
was anything to choose between them. There are good men
now, but I question whether mankind hasn't degenerated
considerably since the Blythe and Chauvel days. The old
lot were stickers in eveiy sense of the term, and, ah ! so
unlike the " pioneers " of the present day, who have had
the country opened up for them, and in reality have only
to walk in and make themselves at ease. Many of the old
hands deserved better treatment at the hands of the more
recent generation. Poor old Blythe died in Sydney some
ten years ago, the only friend to watch over him in his last
moments being Ewar, at one time of Wombo.
McPherson formerly took up Bungeworgorai, and had
cattle on it, aVjout the time that Blythe and Chauvel were
out (1849), but he, too, abandoned all, and made Paddy
Macinnon a present of the cattle remaining. Paddy was bul-
lock driver or stockman for McPherson ; a second blackfellow
in nature, something like Duramboi. He lived with the
blacks for years, but managed to keep a few cattle and
quiet milkers with plenty of fat beef for all hands.
Every year or oftener, when he wanted a spree, he
brought down a few of his herd and disposed of them at Dalby
or Drayton. He seldom, however, got farther than Dalby.
A WESTERN NOTABLE. 175
He travelled down with the bhacks, and with a cart loaded
with gins and piccaninnies of all sorts. He would return
perhaps with a bag of flour, and drapery for his family of
blacks, and with cotton and silk handkerchiefs, twill shirts,
mole and tweed trousers for himself as a turn out for
his next trip, but spending most of the proceeds of the sale
and not infrequently leaving a good score at the pub to pay
next time. I believe Paddy Macinnon died at Forster's inn,
in the Condamine township, about 1860, and with him died
also M'Pherson's legacy. Reus Bingham and Macdonald
took up CoUingull Lagoons (novv Myall Grove Station),
and had just formed the head station in 1851 — somewhere
near where the Condamine township now is — which township
was formed about 18.57 or 1858.
Early in 1852, Henry William Coxen arrived at his uncle's
station, " Bindian." W. P. Gordon was then managing for
Charles Coxen, at Bindian, and stocked Wallambilla with
slieep during this year, Charles Coxen took up the run.
Gordon sold out well in 1861 or 1862. Henry Coxen also
took up Alderton, and stocked it with sheep. Some years
afterwards he likewise stocked Bendemere, selling out to
Macfarlane Bros, in 1866, at, I think, £1 a head for the
sheep — and bad sheep too — at any rate Macfarlane Bros.
"went bung" about two years afterwards. This year Rens
Bingham and Macdonald drew sheep from their CoUingull
station for the Workin run, while Beck and Brown took up
1,100 square miles of country on the Moonie fall of water
on the creeks. This country was previously unknown, and
Beck and Brown only came to a knowledge of it through
the blacks. Acting under their guidance they set out, and,
after viewing a portion of it, took steps to secure it. It
turned out that the greater portion of it was beautiful
open undulating blue grass country, with myall and salt-
bush running through it, and with plenty of good water,
176 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
though Beck and Brown did not consider it of a permanent
nature. This country remained long hidden owing to the
frontage being scrubby and sandy, consequently that at the
back on the small creeks escaped the eagle eye of the explora-
tion parties which went out from time to time. Beck and
Brown did not stock until 1S56, but paid the rent from the
time they found it.
In this year (1852) things began to look up, and many
surprises were occasioned by what were considered the high
prices station properties realised. For instance J. D.
M'Lean purchased Westbrook with about 12,000 sheep at
something like 12s. 6d. per head, with the run given in.
James Taylor, about the same time, purchased a large
portion of the swamp (now Toowoomba), it was said, for
.£10,000. John Deuchar secured Canal Creek station at
10s. a head for tlie sheep. Gillespie, of Sydney, afterwards
bought this run from Deuchar. Logan sold Dunmore, on
Weir River, during this year or early in 1853, to James
Taylor, of Cecil Plains, and Watson Bros, purchased Halli-
ford and Wa-Wa with sheep at good prices. John Crowder,
at Weranga, on the head of Moonie River station (which
was formed in 181:8 or 1849), stocked with sheep in '52, and
put John Miller in charge. John Crowder was formerly
general manager for Lochinvar, Rosenthal, and St. Ruth
company. Alfred Crowder, brother to John Crowder, died
at Commissioner Roleston's, at Cambooya, in 1850, and was
buried close to the road. A tombstone and iron railings
marked the spot, but it was sadly neglected and became
a wreck. It was Alfred Crowder who formed Weranga,
where he resided until his illness. John Crowder sold
out Weranga in 1856 to James Hook and Campbell. Some
years afterwards Weranga was purchased by Mort and
Laidley from Hook. Dulacca was another station taken
up by John Crowder, but it was not formed or stocked by
-Mk. T. H. Stephens. Hon. k. G. \V. Hekkert.
Sir. Maurice O'Connei.l.
Mr. Samuel Uroavn. Mr. John Beck.
WILLIAM miles' START. 177
hiui, John Miller — mentioned as an early manager of
Weranga — having purchased 4,000 sheep and formed it in
1855. Miller held the station on his own account until
1857, when he took William Miles in as a partner in Dulacca,
Miles bringing his 7,000 sheep from Kinnoul, on the
Dawson, which he had previously rented from Miller and
Turnbull, together with the sheep. Both Miller and Turn-
bull took a trip home during the two years of Miles'
lease. Miles about 1860 bought John Miller's share of
Dulacca. Dulacca was a small run, its capabilities being
about 15,000 sheep, and, being about fully stocked, it
enabled the owner to make an annual sale of sheep equal
to the increase. Just at this time a demand for stocking
the western country arose Sheep were then fetching from
20.S. for maidens, and averaging 15s. for breeding ewes. This
gave William Miles his start. Magechie Brothers had taken
up Retreat, on the Weir River, about 1848, and in this
year (1852) stocked it with breeding mares. These may be
said to have been the ancestors of the wild brombies which
afterwards swarmed the whole country from the M'Intyre
to the Condamine, and even to the north of the latter stream.
Tarawinnabar, which had been formed by Smith contempo-
raneously with Retreat, was stocked just about the same
year, and the same may be said of Easton and Robertson's
Billa Billa, both runs being devoted to sheep. Paddy Clyres
put cattle on Tallwood, and Atkins, Jarrott, and Gardner,
in January of 1852, arrived from Goulburn, and rented
MuUeelee run on the Moonie River, as well as the sheep
tliat were on it.
In 1853 Beck and Brown moved their sheep from the
head of Undullah Creek from a block of country named
Tara, which was within eighteen miles of Weranga, and
took them down the Moonie to Gideon Lang's country.
This country was then owned by Atkins, Jarrott, and
178 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Gardner, and had never been occupied until Beck and
Brown's sheep were put on it. The sheep remained on
Tartha until 1856. Working country then was no easy
task, for without shepherds it was impossible to keep sheep
or anything else on it — the blacks were so bad. And shep-
herds were not so plentiful. The two shiploads of German
immigrants who arrived in the "Aurora" and the "Merbz"
in 1855 were a perfect godsend. They had the greatest diffi-
culty in getting here. These immigrants were the result of
a special effort put forward by the squatters and paid for by
them too. Kirchner, one of the firm of Kirchner & Co ,
merchants, of Sydney, went to Germany and engaged them
under an agreement for two years, the squatters paying on
arrival here £16 for each man. The immigrants had,
according to the agreement, to pay off the £16 during the
two years, but only a few of the squatters deducted the
amount. I remember Beck and Brown engaged thirteen of
these people, and did not deduct anything from their earn-
ings. The majority of the men turned out to be excellent
servants. Many of them remained in the service of the
squatters for years after their term had expired, and, in
some cases, they took up land themselves. They certainly
tilled a gap which sadly wanted bridging at the time. Fi-om
this out, things went better so far as the labour was
concerned, for the two ship loads acted as a sort of adver-
tisement, and others were only too glad to immigrate on
their own accord. At any rate there was never the same
dearth, for bye and bye English immigrants were also
attracted to the colony. Generally speaking these latter
were a good class, too, being drawn principally from the
farming districts of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Like
the Germans, many of these remained in the service of the
squatters for as long as fifteen years, and developed into
some of the best selectors that have ever taken up their
HIE DEARTH OF LABOUR. 179
residence in any country. When, however, the system of
immigration was so changed as to cover practically only
artisans, things changed for the worse so far as the squatters
were concerned, and, if I mistake not, neither the colony
nor the immigrants themselves profited much. Many
a lot of these artisans were got up to the stations at
a deal of expense to the Crown lessees, who voted them
a nuisance, and who, in many cases, were only too glad
to get rid of them. In 1857, Beck and Brown, who, like
many others, had become thoroughly sick of what was
termed the "riffraff of London," got sev'en hands up from
Ipswich by the drays which were taking up loading. This
season was a most extraordinary one : rain, rain, little else
but rain ; it prevailed from that August to the following
August. And a nice time these men had. They were six
months on the road. The carrier (Marks) got £2 10s. per
man, the squatters providing them with rations for the
period as well as paying their wages, which had been going
on for seven weeks before they started. When they set out
it was thought that five weeks would see them at their
journey's end, and, on this basis, Walter Gray, who was
then the squatter's man — forwarding and receiving their
wool — acted. Of course when these rations were done the
men attacked the loading, a very considerable " hole " in
•which was made before they got to the station. But the
greatest loss was perhaps caused by the waste. What all
this meant may be better understood when it is stated that
the rate to Beck and Brown's station from Ipswich was
18s. per 100 lbs. Add to this the interest on cost of rations
and the fact that wool had to be kept on hand for as long as
nine or twelve months before there was any prospect of a
return, and the reader will observe how very different
squatting was in those days as compared with what it is
now — and there is enough trouble even now, goodness knows.
180 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
After Walter Gray's death in 1862, G. H. Wilson became
the squatter's man, and a worthy successor to Gray he proved.
In 185i or 1855 John S. Scott took over Magechie's
Retreat station, on the Weir River, and stocked it with
sheep. The year following, Beck and Brown moved their
sheep from Tartha (about 18,000) to form the 1,100 square
miles of country taken up by them in 1852. Brown in the
same year took down about 1,800 old ewes to Flemniing's
boiling-down works, near Ipswich, but the unusually wet
season was against them, and they lost fat in travelling and
in swimming the creeks. The returns of tallow was on
this account vei'y poor, and made the squatters wonder why
they bothered with the sheep at all. Owing to this con-
tinued wet weather, nearly the whole of the stations ran
out of rations, even those on the Downs, which, by
comparison, were close to Ipswich. Some of the drays were
fourteen months on the roads, and, in order that those on
the stations might not die of starvation altogether, small
quantities of flour were carried periodically from the
benighted drays to the stations on pack horses. Even then
on some of the runs the squatters did not touch flour for
three weeks at a time. There was practically nothing but
mutton. From morning to night the iron pot was on the
fire, the greasy chops in it being stirred around with a long
stick. This really was the only food they had ; there was
not even a pinch of tea to be had at most of the places.
When at length the drays did turn up there was great jolli-
fication. Damper and scones never tasted sweeter.
In 1858 J. B. Atkins formed Kooroon station, on the
Moonie River, stocking it with a mixture of sheep and
cattle. About two years later Captain M'Carthy joined
Atkins, but in 1863 both fell, owing to the bank putting on
the screw on other parties, through whose failure the two
collapsed. After this Atkins got the management of Worn-
ROUGH TIMES. 181
blebank (in the Maranoa) into his hand, while his partner
dropped into the more congenial position of a Government
servant in Brisbane.
Gideon Lang had been the tirst to take up the country,
over which Atkins had the management, but never occupied
it, and eventually threw it up. Atkins then came into
possession of it, paying rent for it from 1856, and form-
ing it in 1858. Beck and Brown liad in 1859 estab-
lished their country, Canmaroo, Coomrith, Ingleston, and
Cooroora as a going concern, and quickly stocked up,
getting good increases of lambs. These were rough times
for the two pioneers, for with sheep here, there, and every-
where, they were constantly on the travel. Indeed Brown
has often related that in three years he was not at the head
station of any one of the runs a week on a stretch.
As showing how elections were conducted in these times
it may be stated that in 1859 Beck, Brown, and two or three
men whom they took over, went to record their vote at the
Condamine township. D. M'Lean, of Westbrook, and
William Handcock, of Drayton, were the candidates. It
was thought that Beck and Brown's five votes would just
about run M'Lean in, but they were out of their reckoning,
for Handcock crept in and took his seat in the old Sydney
Parliament.
Murilla station was formed about 1859, and stocked with
sheep by Joshua Peter Bell, of Jimbour, and about the same
time Barton and Beck Bros. " sat down " at Wandungal,
on the Dogwood. These Becks were not related to the
partner of Brown, but Barton was a brother of the medico
of that ilk in the early days of Brisbane, and the same man
who in partnership with Lamb owned squattages on the
Burnett and the Dawson.
Roma was in process of formation in this year, Spencer
settling on Bugyuagorie, and an inn, kept by one Ware,
182 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
was opened at Surat. Lloyd Bros., of Tasmania, too, were
forming a station near Noorindoo, while Yankee Brown was
doing something in the same line close by. The latter,
however, did not long remain, for he went over to Maitland,
and, as a speculation, bought dogs and goats for shipment
to California !
Donald Ross, of Noondaroo, manager for and a relative
of the Halls, became the owner of Yankee Brown's station,
Cambarngo. In the same year the country on Donga Creek,,
owned by Jacob and Low, was being formed and partially
stocked with cattle, though some time afterward these wei'e
withdrawn and sheep substituted, and the run re-named
" Glenearn." The same may be said of the country down
the Balonne from Surat, and also down the Moonie River,
while at St. George it had been decided that they had become
sufficiently civilised to warrant the erection of a wayside
house.
In 1860, Dr. Kelson bought Tartha from Beck and Brown,,
and remained there a couple of years, and, in 1866, Brown
bought the run back from F. A. Forbes and John Pettigrew,.
of Ipswicli. This was a good deal for Brown, for the run
was without stock, and, as a severe drought was being
experienced, and there was plenty of grass on Tartha, he
was able to weather the trouble tolerably well. When this
drought came to an end he sold again to William Dockrill,
who for years had worked with Brown as a horse driver
and as a shearer.
In 1862 Beck and Brown dissolved partnership, the former
taking Canmaroo, and Brown Coomrith, the 40,000 sheep
being equally divided. The floods of two years later, how-
ever, played sad havoc with both, as indeed they did with
otlier pastoral lessees. In one fell swoop Brown lost 1,700^
the flock being swept away down the Condamine.
It was about this time that William Miles came politically
AN EARLY ELECTION. 183
into prominence, being returned for the Maranoa l)y either
two or three votes. The squatters travelled far and wide
to record their votes. Brown travelled to Surat, some
seventy miles from his station, and took with him three men
to vote for Miles, whom Brown had up to this time known
very intimately. He afterwards expressed himself as sorry
for having taken so much trouble, for he averred that
althougli his votes had practically put Miles in, that gentle-
man always avoided him and never so much as noticed him.
But such are politics.
186G saw another drought, and, profiting by past experi-
ence, Brown got rid of 29,000 sheep at an average of 9s. 6d.,
the buyers being Youll and Francis, of Melbourne. From
this to 1872 sheep went down to any price, and, in the
meantime. Brown re-stocked at something like half-a-crown
a head.
This may be said to bring me down to the railway days,
which rapidly opened the country westwards for hundreds
of miles. How many of these old pioneers are left, and how
many of those who are living still hold the stations on
which they spent the best part of their lives, and the whole
of their hard-earned money 1 And let me ask how many
have actually fallen into the hands of those who were ser-
vants for the then holders. I am afraid, however, that the
individual squatter is nowadays a relic of the past, for,
with few exceptions, the stations are held either by banks,
or by combinations of so-called squatters who, in the early
days at all events, had not even been heard of. I have
been fortunate in securing a few particulars of Beck and
Brown, who formed, in the early days, one of the best known
squatter firms of the back country.
John Beck arrived in Sydney in 1843 or 1844, and
immediately took the management of one of Benjamin
Boyd's stations — " Capartel," Bathurst district, New South
184 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Wales. In 1847-48 Beck purchased, on his own account,
some two or three thousand sheep, principally ewes, and
started the slieep for Moreton Bay in charge of Mr. Thomas
Nicholson, ultimately reaching Canal Creek, where they
settled down until early in 1851 on a block of country named
*' Hamilton," within three miles of what is now the town-
ship of Leyburn. On 4th April, 1849, Samuel Brown
arrived in Melbourne. Brown was then a youth approach-
ing the age of twenty-one years. He immediately went up
to his brother's station, " Mopianimum," Wardy Yallock,
Geelong district. Samuel Brown i^emained at Mopiani-
mum, learning "colonial experience" till December, 1849,
— about nine months — when he proceeded to Sydney
to join Beck, his brother-in-law. Both went on to Moreton
Bay, and landed at Kangaroo Point on 1st January, 1850.
From Ipswich they went on to Canal Creek on horseback.
Brown became full partner by purchasing and paying Beck
in cash for half share of the sheep, etc. The firm of Beck
and Brown thus commenced in January, 1850. The part-
nership continued till March, 1862. In March, 1851, Mr.
Nicholson got the management of Stonehenge station from
Thomas De Lacy Moffatt, who was then residing there.
In May, 1851, Brown started from Canal Creek with
sheep, travelling down the Condamine (Beck with his family
remaining at Canal Creek for a time, but afterwards removed
and resided at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane). Brown pulled
up at Dogwood Creek, on Charles Coxen's " Bindian " run.
Brown was then the farthest out with sheep. However,
shortly after. Walker, with the native police, came from
Callandoon and settled their barracks on Channing Creek.
Brown had hardly got the yards up for the sheep on the
Dogwood when he was surprised by the arrival of a
special messenger from Beck at Canal Creek requesting him
to return with the sheep at once, in consequence of the
A RISKY UNDERTAKING. 185
gold discoveries in the south having caused much alarm
among the settlers on the Downs. John Gammil, of Talgai,
Clifton, etc., was talking of boiling down all sheep except
the veiy best quality for wool, as the scarcity of labour of
all kinds, and especially shepherds, with consequent extra-
vagant demand for wages would, it was then generally
thought, compel the squatters to succumb altogether. How-
ever, in the face of these prognostications, Brown refused
to return with the sheep. Brown had one man at least
— " John Davies " — a trustworthy, good shepherd whom he
could depend upon By forming two flocks into one, and
with the assistance of the blacks as shepherds, he considered
lie would be all right, especially as the native police had
settled within twenty miles of him. And so it turned out.
He got two blacks shepherding, with all the assistance he
required for lambing. The blacks did their work well.
Brown said of them — " I always found the blacks reliable
if reliance were placed in them, and were treated fairly and
kindly, though firmly, and as human beings. In the course
■of a year or so the gold fever abated a little, though shep-
herds and shearers were actually masters for throe or four
years after. The Chinese who were afterwards introduced
assisted somewhat in forcing white labour down to a work-
able level.
In 1852 Beck and Brown took up about 1,100 square
miles of country on the creeks falling into the Moonie
River, but being then isolated, with no neighbours nearer
than 100 miles, with a scarcity and high rates of labour,
they could not occupy the country for some years after they
had taken it up and paid rent for it. In the meantime
Brown wandered about from place to place with tlie sheep
— a year or so here, a year or so there — but gradually work-
ing towards the country they had taken up. He settled for
about two years on the country secured by Gideon Lang,
186 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
but then unoccupied, and in a natural state, on the Moonie
River, about fifty miles from Weranga (then John Crow-
ther's). There was no road down Ijeyond a track from.
Weranga to the farthest out sheep station of Crowther's.
All beyond to Lang's country Brown named " Tartha," a
black's name, one which still clings to it.
In 1856 Beck and Brown first formed the 1,100 square
miles. They placed two fiocks on it, then another two flocks,
and so on as the yards were ready to receive them, until thfr
whole of the sheep were removed from Lang's country,
"Tartha" — in all, approaching 18,000. They thus formed
Canmaroo head station (commenced May, 1856). The 1,100
square miles taken up and formed by Beck and Brown are
now in four stations, known as Canmaroo, Coomrith, North
Ingleston, and Cooroora.
In March, 1862, Beck and Brown dissolved partnership,.
Beck taking Canmaroo, and Brown Coomrith, dividing the
sheep equally — about 40,000 — or about 20,000 sheep each.
Beck died at Coomrith in 1866. Brown sold part of Coom-
rith, with 27,000 odd sheep, in 1873, to William Graham
(Hon. William Graham and Daniel Williams, railway con-
tractor). The other part of Coomrith was reserved by him
with part also of Cooroora, which he held up to the end of
'86 — the wind-up of the two years' drought. During
this time there was practically no rain — in fact from
July, 1884, to May, 1886. Brown lost quite two-
thirds of his sheep, and the greater part of his casli, in
endeavouring to keep alive those he saved. Bi-own had been
equally unfortunate in other droughts. In 1875 he lost
11,000 sheep, what with drought and the results of three
days' continuous rain immediately after being shorn when
the drought broke up. Other droughts followed, but Brown
has often remarked that the one of 1885 was the worst he
ever experienced. In the sixties, stock was a very uncertain
BECK AND BROWN. 187
quantity. From I860 to 1867, sheep were restricted fronn
crossing into Queensland from New South Wales. At this
time there was a demand from the nortliern parts of the
colony, which was then being stocked ; and what with the
short supply and the heavy demand, values jumped up
tremendously. Maiden ewes fetched £1 a head, average
breeding ewes about 15s., and other classes in proportion.
Unfortunately many of the southern men were unable to
foresee events sufficiently well to sell. Most of them stocked
up their country instead of selling. With remarkable
suddenness sheep then fell to half-a-crown, and few sales at
that, and, in addition, from '67 to '72, wool had fallen so
terribly that it was scarcely worth while cutting it off the
sheep's back. Prices ruling in Sydney ran from 5^d. to
lid. per lb.
After 1872 the price of wool improved much, and con-
tinued to fetch a fair price, but the droughts became more
general after then, and the quality of country got worse
and worse every year, consequent upon the heavy stocking
and the eating out of the roots of all the good blue grass
and natural herbage. It is questionable whether the
wethers bred on the same country now average 40 lbs.,
much less 70 lbs., which was regarded there twenty years
ago as a fair average.
Both Beck and Brown were born in the parish of Borgue,.
Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. Beck was the youngest son
of the late William Beck, of Balmangan. Brown is the
youngest son of the late Alexander Brown, of Ingleston and
Casleton, Borgue, and, strange to say, both were educated
at the same academy in the latter town. As has been
stated, Beck died at Coomrith in April of 1866, at the age
of about 57 years. Brown, though over 60 years of age,
is still hale and hearty — as he describes himself: "T am.
still a bushranger."
CHAPTER IX.
North Queensland Legends and Myths — A Daring "Duffer"
—The Gulf Country — A Run-Hunting Expedition —
Breaking in a "Brombie" — A Terror to Drovers — An
Abandoned Track — Back to the Early Forties — A
Curious Mistake — Major Gorman — Patrick Leslie — D.
C. McConnel — The First Squatter on the Brisbane —
A Burnett Pioneer — "Blood for Blood."
ORTH QUEENSLAND is not without
its legends and myths, chiefly criminah
There are still a few men living who are
, --^M .- ^^-^ the heroes of some stories which would
h^^^l^^^^"':-'' compare with the fabled exploits of many
1/ ■*!'■' fe; a Highland cateran or border mosstroop-
er^ ^^ Si er — Rob Roy or William of Deloraine.
I have a few particulars of one of them
which are worth giving. One of his most daring feats was
the taking of over 1,000 cattle from a station on the Thomp-
son, and travelling them overland to Adelaide by way of
Cooper's Creek and the Barcoo. Fortune favoured the enter-
prising cattle lifter more than he deserved, for he had to fear
something more than the peril of the law. There was the
more terrible danger of dying of thirst. There were really no
means of learning that when one waterhole was left in the
morning, the next and the next again would not be found to
be dry. One wonders wliat could have been this man's
thoughts as he and his companions went on day after day with
their lives in their hands. Of course, if the worst had come to
the worst, and the drought-fiend had descended on them in
A DARING "DUFFER." 189"
all his terrors, they would have left the cattle to their fate,,
and tried to save their own lives by hard riding. But could
they have saved themselves 1 The question is not easy to
answer. A single shower might make all the difference for
them between prolonged life and a miserable death. At
that time the pioneer squatter had not pushed out very far
into the dry interior. The cattle were i-egularly auctioned
in Adelaide, and, probably, the enterprising drover would
have escaped scot free if he had been content to take only
herd cattle, and left behind a very remarkable white stud
bull, which was bought and sent to the Darling Downs,
where he was promptly recognised. The result was the
arrest of the enterprising drover aforesaid, who had spent
his share of the proceeds of the cattle in riotous living in
Sydney. He was tried in the Roma Circuit Court, and
acquitted on the clearest evidence (of his guilt). Thereuponi
Roma was, on the report of the presiding judge, sentenced
to lose its Circuit Court. This story has furnished the
groundwork for an episode in a well known Australian*
romance ; but the novelist has made the drover get into gaol,
and come generally to grief, which did not happen, and, as a
rule, seldom does in real life, where the greatest rascals
commonly " flourish like a green bay tree," so long as their
rascality is tempered with a proper amount of discretion.
The above overlanding exploit was not, however, the first
of its kind. A person, now dead, was instructed by an
Adelaide squatting firm to take delivery of 2,000 Darling
Downs cattle, and drive them over to Adelaide. Men were
engaged, horses and supplies bought, and a start was made-
All would proVjably have gone well if Mr. X, as we will
call the leader of the party, had chosen to follow the then
usual route down the Darling and Murray. For very
excellent reasons of his own, however, he preferred to keep-
away from the rivers in the interior, where he knew there-
190 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
had been good rains, the cattle would have feed and water,
and be less liable to interference than on the frontage. It
was, at the time, a bold thing to do, and the men who had
been engaged for the trip, finding that the cattle were not
being headed for the Barwon frontage, got panic-stricken,
and one night after they had passed the last outpost of
civilisation on the Maranoa, fairly bolted in a body. Mr.
X was in a predicament. Out in the wilderness with 2,000
cattle, and only one blackboy to help him with them !
There were certainly plenty of supplies on the dray, and a
superabundance of horseflesh. There were several good
dogs, too, and their help was not to be despised under the
circumstances. X determined to go on. He knew there
were no serious obstacles in his way, no rivers to cross, or
station cattle "to box" with his ovvn. The blackboy, who had
been with him on exploring trips, was not afraid, and the
glory of succeeding in such an attempt was by no means to
be despised. So on they went. Of course the travelling
was slow. The cattle could not be hurried. They iiad to
be allowed to feed leisurely along all day, spreading a mile
or two wide when tlie grass or herbage was abundant. That
ensured their camping at night. When the feed was bad
they were driven fast, and compensated with a good rest
when there was feed to justify it. The result of this care-
ful management was that very few of the cattle were lost,
and they had actually improved in condition when they
arrived near Adelaide. So much for careful, steady droving.
Live stock fetched good prices in the early seventies, when
the country south of the Gulf of Carpentaria began to be
taken up in earnest. It was nearly all taken up in the first
instance as " unwatered," in consequence of the absurd then-
existing law which required all " watered " country to be
stocked before being applied for. Of course this law, like
many others, was simply productive of perjury. A wise
A RUN-HUNTING EXPEDITION. 191
legislature, in deference to popular clamour, decided that
the " cormorant squatter " should not be allowed to take up
new country and keep it unstocked for sale as a speculation
unless it absolutely would not carry stock. The legislature
did not apparently know that a man looking for new counti-y
did not usually take his flocks and herds and family about
with him — that he often had neither flocks nor herds to
speak of of his own ; but went out with two or three horses
into the wilderness to hunt for a run that he could sell to
somebody else who had flocks and herds to stock it. The
consequence was that, as the run was not a saleable pro-
perty till the rent was paid and the license to occupy issued,
the discoverer had to declare that it was unwatered even if
a river ran through the middle of it. Nobody, not even the
ofiicials of the Lands Office, regarded these little filis
seriously.
A gentleman who, in company with a friend named Wil-
son, was once on a run-hunting expedition to the far north-
west, related to me the following : — " We had three pack-
horses, but the travelling had been bad, and feed and
water scarce. We found nothing like good available country ;
and the horses were visibly giving out. At last we made
up our minds to leave all but the two best on a few acres of
good grass which surrounded a small waterhole fed by a
spring. Next morning we started as lightly loaded as
possible. All day we rode, but there was no sign of water,
though the country improved a little. That night we gave
the horses a pannikin of water each from our bags, and
camped on the desolate lonely downs. The next day was
much the same, and as the sun declined in the west I said
to Wilson, ' we might as well look out for a place to camp.'
' Ye.s,' he said ; 'it's no u.se knocking up the horses.' Just
then the ground gave way under his horse's forefeet, and
out rushed a little brown bandicoot. Wilson drew the
192 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
revolver he carried, and shot it. He dismounted, and picked
it up. It was vei'y fat, I was just going to dismount when
the horses raised their heads, pricked their ears, sniffed the
air, and mine began to walk briskly on. Wilson mounted
and followed, carrying his bandicoot. We crossed the next
low ridge, and then tlie horses, tired and weak though they
were, broke into a shambling trot, and began to pull. Over
the next ridge, and then we saw before us a long line of
huge gums, with the glitter of water between their ghostly
white trunks. It was a long lagoon, and we could hear tiie
ducks (they must have been in millions) feeding. We
camped, lit a tire, and roasted our bandicoot. Our horses,
having satisfied their thirst, revelled in the rich Mitchell
grass around."
"When we had rested ourselves and our horses, and
marked out the boundaries of our run, we set out on our
return. We found a way through better country ; but still
there were one or two stages on which, with stock, it would
be necessary to depend on clay pans. The country was duly
taken up as " unwatered," and offered for sale by our agents
as " unstocked, but well watered by numerous permanent
creeks and lagoons." We soon found a purchaser, a j\Ir. —
say Stokes — from Adelaide. Mr. Stokes wanted to go at
once to his new run, taking w-ith him 1,.500 mixed cattle he
had bought. He had engaged a newly-arrived immigrant,
a hard-headed, resolute-looking Yorkshire farming man, and
I picked up a blackboy who had already been with me on
two droving trips."
"We got on allright till we were well out of the settled
country. I had warned Mr. Stokes of the two or three
possibly dry stages we should have to pass, but he was
inclined to make little of them. We got over one of them
well enough, and came to a good permanent spring. There
were two stages beyond that where the only water was in
Hon. Louis Hope.
Mr. J. Turner.
Mr R. Little,
Judge Lutwyche.
Mr. Gordon Sandeman.
Sir Joshua P. Bell.
I
A RUN-HUNTING EXPEDITION. 193
clay pans, and there had apparently been little or no rain
since "Wilson and I had been there some months before. I
went forward, and found both the pans dry. It would be
nearly a fifty-mile stage to the next permanent water — too
much for the cattle — and I went back and reported. I
advised that the cattle should be camped for a few weeks,
as they were on good and plentiful feed. Next morning
Mr. Stokes, taking one of the best horses, started out to
look for water, declaring he would take the cattle on at all
hazards. That night he did not return. The next morning
I rode out with the blackboy to follow Mr. Stokes' track.
It led us to a patch of stony desert, the whole covered with
flat waterworn pebbles of red sandstone. Tracking was
impossible there. We returned to camp."
" Mr. Stokes was never again seen alive or dead. He got
out into the stony desert, and must have pushed on till his
horse fell exhausted, and perished witli his rider. In such
country there can be no hope of escape for man or beast.
I and the blackboy did not spare ourselves in the efibrt to
find traces of the lost man. We went out day after day,
but failed to find, in the stony waste, any sign of a track.
At last, after waiting a fortnight, a heavy thunderstorm
came, and the next day we pushed on. The two clay pans
were full of a thick yellow fluid, which sufficed for the cattle,
and on the third day we got to the fifty-mile spring. Thence
to our destination the stages vvere short and easy.
" We proceeded to settle the cattle on the run. I found
the Yorkshireman a treasure. He was taciturn, and, per-
haps, a little surly in manner, but readily learned the work
of a stockman, and became a good and bold horseman. He
willingly agreed to remain in charge of the new station
when I returned to Brisbane, as I must needs do, as soon
as I had put things in order, to communicate with Mr.
Stokes' representatives. It was clearly a case of natural
194 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
inborn fitness for life in a new country. The blackboy was,
for all the purposes of station work, far less useful than the
new arrival. Not only was he less industrious and less
inured to labour, but he really knew less of the ways of
cattle, and, in everything except tracking, the new chum,
in a month, was his master."
In '73, when some of the cattle stations on the Belyando
were being stocked with sheep, a mob of 10,000 ewes was
started from the Dawson for one of these runs. They were
to travel through the abandoned Tierywoomba and Wandoo
country, across Funnel and Denison Creeks, and round the
head of the Isaacs. When camped near Nebo, the party,
consisting of "the boss," five shepherds, and a Chinese cook,
heard of the gold discovery on the Palmer. The shepherds
at once told the overseer they would go no further unless
their wages were raised to 30s. a week. He simply told
them he would do nothing of the sort. They promptly rolled
up their blankets, got their cheques, and went off to the
township. (They were originally engaged for £1 a week,
and the increase of 10s. was a serious matter). It might
have been worse, however, if, for instance, they had chosen
to strike when further on, where men could not be got at
any price. The Chinese cook remained, and made a few
strong remarks on the folly of men who were actually
travelling in the direction they wanted to go, and being paid
for it, throwing away their chance. He then said he could
get five of his countrymen to take the place of the strikers,
and, being told to get them, soon brought the required relief.
They were evidently men accustomed to the work, which
some of the strikers were not, and all had good dogs. They
agreed to go through for 25s. a week — not an unreasonable
demand under the circumstances.
A little earlier some of those same Belyando cattle, which
were to be replaced by sheep, were being moved to new
BREAKING IN A "BROMBIE." 195
country on the Mitchell River. The horses sent with them
were collected without much regard to anything but con-
dition and cheapness, and they were, in some cases, notorious
for vice. One in particular, a fine, powerful grey, which
had come from no one knew where, soon distinguished him-
self by throwing in succession all the best riders of the
party, till no one would attempt to back him. When the
party came to the Burdekin crossing, they determined to
try an experiment. The terrible grey was run into an old
stockyard near the river, roped, and thrown. A strong
pack-saddle was put on his back, and two strong canvas
pack-saddle bags, filled with sand, were securely attached
to it. A greenhide rope was then passed round everything,
and the grey was let go. He got up and made one or two
vigorous attempts to buck, but they were useless. It had
hitherto been as impossible to keep an ordinary pack as a
rider on the brute's back ; but this pack, which could not
have been less than four hundredweight, Avas too much. A
smart application of the stockwhip sent the grey forward
among the other horses. There was a mile of deep sand
before the water was reached, then two miles more sand to
the firm ground on the other bank. That night the grey
came quietly to be relieved of his pack. Anyone could ride
him or do anything with him after that ; but his spirit was
utterly broken. He turned out an unmitigated slug. It
was impossible to get a gallop out of him, and he was good
for very little except carrying a pack. That is always the
result of breaking a really bad buckjumper, or any other
vicious horse. The vice may be apparently cured for the time
being by firmness, or kindness, and judicious management, but
if thehorse changes hands, and comes underthecontrolof some-
one who is not firm and judicious, it will break out again.
In the old times, when Hodgkinson reigned at Burketown,
the Gulf country was a terror to drovers. The Norman
196 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
especially, flowing through what had been most unjustly-
named the Plains of Promise, acquired a most unenviable
notoriety for its sudden and capricious floods which, in an
hour or two, would convert the wide level plains on either
bank into an impassable sea of mud and water. The eastern,
or right bank, was timbered, but the tall straight stems of
the vast gum trees were inaccessible to anybody but a black-
fellow with a tomahawk, and the best mounted horseman
would try in vain to keep ahead of the advancing flood,
while sheep or cattle would be at once swallowed up. The
western, or left bank, was entirely destitute of trees, and
the daring bushman who ventured into those solitudes had
to boil his tea with a wisp of grass, while there was not a
tree for miles to afford him a refuge in flood time. After
the crisis of 1866, pastoral settlement on the Gulf receded
instead of advanced. Money was of course scarce, the
coasting steamers in those days did not go beyond Bowen,
and very rarely got so far, while the rates for carriage either
from Rockhampton or that port were prohibitive. Flour
could not be bought on the Gulf — when it could be bought
at all — for less than Is. per lb. Under such conditions the
harassed squatter could not hope to make ends meet, and
he succumbed, or, in other words, sold his stock for what it
would fetch, and returned to civilisation, or as near it as he
could earn a living for himself. True, a few hardy old
bushmen held on with grim determination, living on beef
and pigweed, and hoping for better times.
When things were at the worst, a southern capitalist, who
had managed for a trifle, to buy a half-stocked cattle run
on the Flinders, thought it worth his while to send up a
small mob of well-bred shorthorns to improve the stock
which, even on the seller's showing, was, to say the least,
indifferent, consisting chiefly of the very roughest culls from
the old down-country herds. The mob were mustered at
A TERROR TO DROVERS. 197
Tooloomba, near Broadsound, and placed in charge of an
overseer with two half-castes, one as bullock-driver, the other
as stockman. There were 250 breeders, including fifty good
herd bulls, and there were added twenty working bullocks,
a good dray heavily laden with stores, twenty horses, and a
spring cart. The deep and boulder-strewn crossing of Salt-
water Creek came near wrecking the dray, and lamed many
of the cattle ; but gentle driving and good management put
them nearly right when the climb over the Connor's Range
had to be faced. There was no time to lose, as the range
must be crossed in a day, and Collaroy run in another.
The cattle were in a woful plight by the time they got on
to the unoccupied country beyond ; but there was then no
need to hurry. The grass was good and sweet, and there
was plenty of water, and a week's spell put things right.
The mob slowly fed their way northward, passed in view of
the remarkable table-topped, perpendicular-sided hill of Fort
Cooper, named after Sir (then Mr.) Daniel Cooper, of Sydney.
Then on, without any adventure worth recording, to Rich-
mond Downs.
It was the old track from Bowen to the Thomson, chosen
in preference to that from Rockhampton by the Peak Downs
on account of the shortness of the land carriage. Two stages
from Richmond Downs began the dreaded dry stage — forty
miles of stony desert, without grass or water. At the
eastern end of this desert track was a fine, well grassed
plain, watered by springs which gushed from a great isolated
mass of rock. Beyond was the stony desert, as sharply
divided from the grassy plain as is a well kept gravel path
from the lawn beside it in an English pleasure ground.
Here the cattle were allowed a three days' spell, for there
could be no rest in the desert. Then, just before sunset on
the third day, the bullocks were yoked, the unwilling cattle
rounded up, and headed for the pebble-strewn desert. On
198 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
they went, and the rising sun found them still moving. The
horses were changed, each being refreshed with a pannikin
of water squirted into his nostrils from the mouth of his
rider. The team was changed too. Then on through the
scorching heat of the day. The cattle begun to hang their
heads, and their tongues lolled out, but forward they must
go. Again the men changed horses. The cool night air
seemed to refresh the animals, but only cruel flogging made
some of them keep up — that and the dogs, which had been
allowed to drink. But before dawn a change came. Horses
and cattle raised their heads, and the pace mended. The
loose horses started at a gallop, the cattle followed, and even
tlie bullocks got up a lumbering trot. What was it 1
It was the scent of water, still some miles away, but
plainly perceptible to the senses of the thirsty tired beasts.
No flogging or cruel biting at their heels was now needed
to keep the stragglers up with the mob. Even the footsore
and lame forgot their pain, and made the pace hotter and
hotter as the welcome scent became more distinct. Then
the surface of the desert began to gently rise, and soon the
flat pebbles disappeared, and the hoofs of the animals no
longer clattered over them, but trod with a dull dead sound
the grassy soil. In front were dimly seen a long line of
gum trees, and the rising sun showed the cattle and horses
rushing pell mell to quench their burning thirst in a gently
flowing creek. It was no easy task to restrain the team
from rushing after their companions with the yokes and
chains still on them. However, by the strenuous exertions
of all three men, they were at last released, and took their
share of the refreshing element. Then, thirst allayed,
hunger was to be satisfied ; and the whole of the animals
began greedily to crop the rich succulent herbage. The men
made their camp, and, after a refreshing meal of dried beef,
damper, and tea, prepared to enjoy the rest they so much
AN ABANDONED ROUTE. 199
needed. Two nights and a day without sleep, and with
constant demands on their care and vigilance, had tried
their powers of endurance to the utmost. Sleep was a
necessity, and it may well be believed that the sun was
declining in the west before any of the three showed signs
of returning animation.
The overseer, sensible of the responsibility of his position,
was the first to rise and look round him. The cattle, their
hunger allayed, had evidently gone into camp in the heat of
the day, and were just stringing out in long files to begin
feeding again for the evening. The horses were nibbling
daintily at the short grass round the camp. The overseer
caught and saddled one of them, and rode round. He
satisfied himself that all was right, rode back to camp, made
up the fire, and got a bucket of water. Then the camp
woke in earnest. The tent was pitched, and cooking went
on merrily, for there was to be another three days' halt, to
rest and refresh the cattle after their passage of that terrible
dry stage. The route has long been abandoned. Then
teams were paid for at the rate of £J1 per ton for each hun-
dred miles. A saving of one hundred miles in carriage was
a consideration not to be despised. The case was entirely
altered when enterprising carriers with good horse-teams
would do the round trip from Rockhampton and back in a
fortnight for less than a third of the money each way.
Then the railway was extended by degrees to the Dawson,
the Comet, and finally to Emerald, and beyond into what
used, in the memory of men still young, to be called the
Never Never. The teams became things of the past, and
Bowen, which once believed itself destined to a great future
as a seaport, became a very small factor in the progress of
the colony.
There is little more to record of the journey. There were
no serious difficulties to surmount after the dry stage was
200 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
passed. The overseer was an intelligent and careful man,
and his charge being, for those days, a valuable one, he
handled it tenderly. A few days more or less were of little
consequence in comparison with the imperative necessity of
bringing the cattle on to the station in good condition and
with undiminished numbers. The country he had to pass
over was then unfenced. The few stations were worked in
the old - fashioned way, and were very lightly stocked.
Therefore there was little trouble with the occupiers, and it
was possible to make short stages, and let the cattle spread
and feed freely as they went along.
When their destination was at last reached, the overseer
found that the deplorable account he had received of the
property he was to work had been by no means exaggerated,
but very much the reverse. Those who remember what
many of the Riverina cattle stations were like in the forties,
will have no difficulty in forming a faint conception of what
he saw. The home station consisted of two small and
ill-built bark huts, and a stockyard of logs. A cockatoo
fence enclosed a small horse paddock, and the river ran
swiftly by, bordered by high, steep banks. Such of the
cattle as could be seen were of the worst kind possible
for profit, and miserably bred. When the stores had
been put under cover an attempt was made to muster ;
but it was soon apparent that the cattle were too wild to
be properly worked. Many of them, indeed, were excess-
ively fat, but if disturbed they would charge with such
fury and determination that it was clear they had run wild.
The run was fortunately not very heavily timbered, and
there was no scrub. It was therefore not difficult to accus-
tom the cattle to the presence of horsemen. The men
always carried rifles, and when an old bull with horns like
scythes refused, as often happened, to respond to the per-
suasive eloquence of the stockwhip and go into camp with
A CURIOUS MISTAKE. 201
his harem, he usually found his career cut short by a bullet.
The old bulls were shot, and the young ones so dealt with
as to be harmless. Then those which had been brought
from the south, were gradually distributed to the different
mobs, and a small stud herd was formed in a paddock which,
with much labour, the three men managed to fence for it.
In this way was established one of the best of the North
<^ueensland herds, not exclusively of pure shorthorn cattle,
but of inferior stock gradually improved by a judicious
infusion of shorthorn blood. It is a typical example of
what can be done by a well arranged admixture of breeds
when carried out under competent guidance, with a very
small expenditure of money. The Australian merino owes
its existence to much tlie same combination of skill, good
fortune, and judgment. Nothing could be more unpromis-
ing than the progenitors of some of the best Australian
flocks.
But to go back to the early forties. In 1840 Major
Gorman was commandant of the military at the penal estab-
lishment at Brisbane, where Captain Clunie of the 17th
Regiment had been in charge with 102 rank and file eight
years before. And it was reported to the Major by the blacks
that "plenty white fellow sit down." And so up went the
troops over the mountains explored years before by Major
Mitchell and Allan Cunningham, and on Goomburra Creek
they captured Walter Leslie and two of his men, and the
mistake was not rectified till at Canning Downs head station
some credentials were forthcoming which set the blunder
right, and over some real "fighting rum" the Major's health
was pledged again and again. This serves to remind me of
what happened in Moreton Bay some twenty years later.
Constable Boe, stationed at Sandgate, had been instructed to
keep a sharp look out for some runaway sailors who had stolen
a ship's boat out in the Bay and deserted, and could not be
202 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
traced. Constable Boe therefore kept a bright watch, and it
seemed as if his zeal was to be rewarded. It happened unfor-
tunately, however, that Boe was at times given to the habit
of "looking upon the wine when it was red," and on those
occasions his views on all subjects were apt to be too positive
and decided, and not so answerable to argument as should
be. It often happens so when people are "bemused with
beer," being confused, they also become irritable and
obstinate, for, as one of our poets has happily expressed it,
" 'Tis enough to put a climax on the patience of a saint
When no clearer seems the things that are, than are the things
that aint."
A man does get angry when he can't manage to distinguish
substance from shadow. Constable Boe saw a boat approach-
ing the shore, and in it was Captain Claudius Buchanan
Whish, a well-set, handsome, aquiline man, who looked not
one bit like a runaway sailor, but what he really was,
namely, an ex-officer of Hussars. Still all this availed
nothing when John Boe, of the " foorce," had made up his
mind on a certain course impelled by inner potations, so
he arrested Captain Whish and took him (disciplined, and
of course, unresisting), to Brisbane, where, in place of pro-
motion, the only result was that Boe was told that the police
authorities would not need his valuable but too zealous
services any longer.
What brought Mr. Patrick Leslie out to Australia at all
was the fact that his uncle, Mr. Davidson, an English banker —
and the father of Gilbertand Walter Davidson, subsequently of
Canning Downs — sent him out to manage an estate atCassilis,
in the Upper Hunter district, in New South Wales. Thence
he cast longing eyes northward towards the terra incognita
that lay beyond the Dumaresq. David Cannon McConnel
was the first pastoral settler on the head waters of the
THE FIRST SQUATTER ON THE BRISBANE. 20.3
Brisbane. That was in 1841. Born in Manchester, o£
Scotch extraction, in 1818, he was educated for a chemist
and calico printer ; but, attracted by the glowing reports of
Australian prosperity before the collapse of 1843, he sailed
for Sydney, and arrived there in June, 1840. He explored
south to the Moruya River, and north to New England,
and decided to commence squatting life to the north.
He had heard of the Leslie's progress to Darling Downs,
and of the facilities which the Brisbane River presented
for shipping produce. So he determined to strike out in
that direction, and to locate himself and his stock in
swue equable climate near the sea coast, where the rain-
fall could be depended on. He had brought plenty of
money into Australia with him, so, purchasing sheep and
cattle on the Williams and Gloucester Rivers, in New South
Wales, he pushed on to the Severn, at which point he
diverged from the track taken by the Leslies, Denis, and
other pioneers, and passed to near the present sites of Ten-
tertield and Stanthorpe, and followed up the creek on which
Stanthorpe is now built, hoping to find a suitable run on
the heads of the Clarence River or the Logan. But the
country was very broken, and not tempting ; so the table-
land was followed till the Upper Condamine was reached.
Thence he travelled northward and eastward over the Great
Dividing Range, and, settling on Cressbrook Creek, a ti'ibu-
tary of the Upper Brisbane River, he became the first
man to settle with stock on a run to the east of the
Main Range in Queensland. He marked his trees on
Cressbrook on 15th July, 1841, as the country appeared
to offer all the advantages he had sought for, and he
never had occasion to subsequently alter his opinion on
the merits of the run. He now went south again and
brought up some splendid pedigree shorthorn bulls from the
Australian Agricultural Company's place at Port Stephens,.
■204 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
to which stock he added some more of the same class shipped
from England to Brisbane, and the herd enriched from
time to time with new blood, is still in full excellence
at Cressbrook. Weathering the monetary crisis of 1843,
Mr. McConnel, in 1847, returned to England and married
Miss McLeod, of Edinburgh, since well known in connection
with hospitals and charitable institutions in Brisbane. This
was in 1848, and for a year Mr. McConnell studied farming
in one of the leading farming counties in England, and
sailed for Brisbane in 1849 in the " Chaseley," a ship that
brought so many well known colonists, such as Dr. Hobbs,
to Queensland. He then bought the point of land in
Brisbane on the river now known as Bulimba, built a fine
two-story brick house there, and farmed the point with
lucerne, Italian rye grass, sweet potatoes, maize, and cotton,
and made them all pay. Mr. D. McConnel helped from
1849 to 1853 to form the Presbyterian Church in Brisbane,
first erected on the south side July 15, 1850. The clearing
of the Bulimba scrub injuring his wife's health, he sold the
property, which was afterwards occupied by Sir R. R. Mac-
kenzie and Donald Coutts. He was always of opinion that
a shorter, cheaper, and better railway line from Ipswich to
Toowoomba could have been made by crossing the Little
Liverpool Range some miles to the east of the present site
and where the range is lower and narrower ; thence over
Lockyer's Creek, near Tarampa, and up easily graded spurs
to near Crow's Nest, and so over the Main Range direct
to Cowrie, which would have commanded Toowoomba just
as well, and avoided, in his opinion, the sharp turn now
in use.
I have been thus lengthy in writing of David McConnel,
because he combined the triple character of a pioneer squat-
ter, farmer, and philanthropist. He united the agriculturist
and pastoralist, and showed how they could be combined.
A BURNETT PIONEER. 205
He was one of the earliest advocates of inoculation for
pleuro-pneumonia, and was very kind to young and inex-
perienced colonists, many of whom he assisted with advice
and maintenance, and who now remember him gratefully,
and, as one of them remarked (now in a high position in
Central Queensland), " the example of David McConnel's
life as a christian gentleman always fully before the public
amongst whom he moved, proved clearly how a man may
"fear God, and keep His commandments," and yet be an
active practical Morker in new fields of enterprise. He
became the first director of the first bank that started
business in Queensland — a branch of the Bank of New
South Wales, in Brisbane ; Captain R. J. Coley (Lloyd's
agent), being his colleague. Mr. William Richardson, a
brother-in-law of Dr. Hobbs, was the first manager ; and
Mr. A. L Knowles, of Kangaroo Point, the first account-
ant. A bank note, No. 1, dated May 1st, 1852, may be
seen (framed and glazed), in the inspector's room in the
Brisbane oflice, being the first bank note ever issued in
Queensland.
A pioneer of the Burnett district was Mr. William Harvey
Holt, one of the many men from the great public schools of
England who have made their mark in early Australia.
Born at Eton in 1833, and educated at its college, he found
himself, in 1851, at the age of eighteen, getting his " colonial
experience " at Yendah, near Gayndah, with Mr. Robert
Wilkin, with whom, in 1859, he entered into partnership,
and formed Kolonga station for cattle, about thirty miles-
up from the mouth of the Kolan River, near the Talkiberau
Creek, a famous and mysterious rocky wild spot where gold
and copper lie plentifully concealed in reefs and ledges that
are not workable by the ordinary unskilled miner. He
removed, in 1872, to "Glen Prairie," in Broad Sound,
whicli he worked most successfully with cattle, and whence
206 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
in a fine and specially fitted steamer, called the "Yeoman,"
sailing alternately from Gladstone or Port Clinton, he
shipped cattle abundantly to New Zealand and other places.
Another pioneer of what was then the " north countree "
Avas Mr. William Young, who, on the 29th May, 1855, took
up country with sheep near Mount Larcombe, in the Port
Curtis district, just before the Archers, in August, 1856,
began on the Fitzroy River, at Gracemere, Mr. Young's
nearest neighbors being the Archers on that side, and Mr.
Blackman, some seventy miles away, in the other direction ;
and as Mr. Young and his people gave no provocation to
the blacks, he forms a good example of how the early
pioneers had to suffer the " manner and customs " of the
aborigines.
One day a man in Mr. Young's employ was accidentally
drowned while bathing in a waterhole on the run, and the
master had to go on to the nearest township (a far ride,
indeed), to report the matter. Taking advantage of the
absence of the boss, the blacks fell upon the run, killed five
shepherds, raided the sheep, rifled the store and house, and
when Mr. Young returned he had only a couple of wool-
packs for bed and blanket that night, but that, of course,
was the least part of his trouble. The nearest police and
magistrates were at Captain O'Connell's place, at Gladstone,
and the course of orthodox law all over New South Wales
was, in such a case, for the sufferer to ride to the settlement
and procure a warrant for the offenders, and take a con-
stable with him to execute the same, having, of course, to
be careful to identify the real offenders (whom he had never
seen, and whom the dead victims could, of course, never
testify against). This farcical style of business was fully
explained to nie in 1853, when I was overlanding, and by
old Donald Macrae, a settler on the Lower Lachlan River,
near Balranald, in which he referred to the absurdity and
' BLOOD FOR BLOOD." 207
" disconvenience " of riding 250 miles to Bathurst or else-
where for a warrant and a constable for a black who had
stolen sheep or killed a shepherd, and Macrae hinted that
the business was often settled in a much more summary
style. The statute, supine as to black men's sins, was,
however, keenly alive when a white man (even by deputy)
crossed the border line between law and its breach. One
early settler " up north " had his run raided and eight of
his men killed without provocation, and his sheep in their
charge were driven off for slaughter and feasting.
He was, of course, very angry, and, with two friendly
half civilized natives from another part of the colony whom
he employed as stockmen (the whole three having loaded
carbines, and the " boss " a revolver as well), set out to
track the ringleader of the massacre, one "Billy," who had
"cleared out " and was just then comfortably camped with
some " tame " blacks at a police depot fifty miles away till
the matter should " blow over," the depot being due to the
residence of the Crown Lands Commissioner for the district.
And here was " Billy " sure enough ; and when he was
asked for, the gins replied "here Billy," and he, seeing the
game to be "up," at once made for the water nearest at
hand, which happened to be an arm of the sea. But as
soon as he plunged and was about to dive, the two black
stockmen who had followed him up emptied their carbines
into him, and killed him on the spot.
Their idea was " blood for blood," after seeing the corpses
of the shepherds, whom they knew so well. But the " out-
rage " of a white squatter thus allowing " lynch law " by
his servants under the very nose and almost under the very
verandah of a Crown Lands Commissioner, was a matter
not to be overlooked, and a warrant was issued for the said
pastoralist, and he duly appeared before a bench consisting
of the Police Magistrate and two squatters named T. L.
208 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
M. Prior and R. R. Mackenzie, the latter of whom, at
all events, had known what it was in New England to be
robbed of shepherds and sheep by the blacks in the by-gone
days. The Police Magistrate, who had once been a school-
master, and never owned any sheep, was all for refusing
bail, but he was overruled by the majority, and it was
granted with a remand to the place where the shooting
occurred. The news of the trouble soon spread, and our
grazier found himself " shadowed " at every little bush place
on his way up to the locus in quo wherever there was an
inn, a lockup, a blacksmith's shop, and a few people ; but
the magic words " out on bail till the 30th at " made
the police fall back at once on each occasion, and when
finally before the bench at the place of remand he was
" discharged for lack of evidence." And so ended the
matter of that tragedy.
Mr. Robert CiuiiB. Mr. T. L. Murray-Prior.
Col. Gray.
Mk. James Wakner, Mr. John Peirie.
CHAPTER X.
Early Queenslanders — The Surviving Few— Once More the
Roll Call — Some of the Old Hands — John Petrie —
Ctkorge Thorne — Robert Little — Frederic Bigge— T, L.
Murray-Prior — Sir Joshua P. Bell — Edwin Norris —
James Warner — Robert Douglas — Simeon Lord— Captain
Taylor Winship— James S. Mitchell.
LD residents of soutli Queensland, those
with good memories for the past, live in a
world of their own, with sympathies and
associations peculiar and unique, into which
modern Queensland cannot enter any moi'e
than New South Wales or Victoria could.
Ours was a strange early history. We
were a happy limited community set down
in a strange, new, and wonderful part of the world, and our
sorrows took their colour from the dear old but then new
locality, so unlike any other place that any one of us had
come from, but in which we found we had to live and work
out our destinies, and where we soon grew only too content
to dwell. Some soon passed from us — passed away in the
early days ; scriptural names like Moses Adsett and others,
suggestive of quiet Sabbath afternoons at chapel or school in
the wattle-scented bush ; others, again, like "honest delving"
Thorpe Riding (our early agriculturist), who passed away
near their three score years and ten, and all of whom will
leave their pioneer names behind them in the persons of their
o
210 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
descendants, even as did the Rouses in the sister colony
after they landed in the good ship "Nile," in 1801. Fore-
most in all the list stands John Petrie, identified alike with
the old past and the developed present of our new country,
and conspicuous by his good work all through.
John Petrie.
When I first knew him he was " young Petrie," for old
Andrew, his father, the foreman of works under Colonel
Barney, was the family head — sightless, but clever, old
Andrew. Other sons there were, not to name the ancestral
cockatoo, rival of " Grip the raven," and who lived for 45
years with the Petries and was only excelled by the 70-year-
old " sulphur crest " who domiciled with the Sydney Went-
worths, patriarchs there like the Petries were here, a bird
who lived till his bald chest made him fain in the wintry
July to singe his featherless bosom by the hearth fire logs.
Many are the memories of those who, long ago, came to us
consumptive — some in time, and some too late ; Anglican
clergymen who came, married, and died, all within three or
four years of their arrival. Others, like the Rev. Mr.
Mowbray, who came intending to die, but altered his mind
and lived for thirty years in the kindly, healthy air of Bris-
bane, as it was in the forties and fifties, before local sanitary
science (?) was invented. Young John Petrie was then only
2.5 years old — no gray hairs, and an honest "sonsie" Scotch
face, redolent of the "bluid" of the auld land, where
generations, full of hard work and self-respect, had prepared
a race fit to battle with all the labours and problems of a
new country, be it Queensland, India, or what not. But
lie who formed the one strongest link that bound us to the
fast fleeting bygone days has gone with the rest — an inevi-
table, but none the less painful, rending of ties which have
THE SURVIVING FEW. 211
been long growing, and are now severed for ever, save for
memory's sad offices.
Yes, leading and prominent survivors of early Queensland
are now few and far between. They were good men who
lived forty years ago, and who settled this land. I wonder
do those who have come after them and pushed on the place
the pioneers really made, ever think of those who did the
hard work 1 I wonder, indeed !
The old hands of 1822 are all gone. Tom Brookes and
" Red " Smith at 86 years old were the last survivors of
them, and only the men of the late thirties, the forties, and
the early fifties are left, and the youngest of them is at
least 60 years old. Conspicuous at the head of the list
stands Thomas Petrie, dating back to 1837. The early
Burnett and Brisbane River settlers are only represented
now by Gordon Sandeman (an absentee), and C. R. Haly
(unless the Logan can be said to claim him). Tlie Logan
men who are left are considerably more numerous — P.
Pinnock, A.W.Compigne, Collins, of Mundoolan, and Pollett
Cardew, of Mount Flinders. The clergy one only, in the
person of Canon Glennie. Turning to the Darling Downs,
we find H. W. Coxen, J. F. M'Dougall, and John Ferrett ;
while Sir Arthur Hodgson, H. S. Russell, and Arnold Wienholt
(of the same place) are absentees in England. W. Tillman,
a sui'vivor of the German Mission at Nundah introduces us
to another department. Messrs. P. O'Sullivan, R. Gill,
Christopher Gorry, H. M. Reeve, and Wm. Vowles, date far
back into the early history of the colony. J. S. Turner and
Wm. Brookes recall the early Union Bank in Brisbane, and
R. A. Kingsford, Sir Chas. Lilley, E. B. Southerden, W.
Southerden, John Hardgrave, James Collins, George Appel,
Reuben Oliver, A. RafF, John Little, Joseph Baynes, John
Leckie, C. J. Trundle, are some of the metropolitan represen-
tatives, to whom must be added Pilot Bousfield. Sir Arthur
212 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Palmer, E. Morey, John Scott, and P. Sellheim, now of this
colony, are all colonists of ancient dates, but whether ever in
Queensland before 1855 is unknown to the writer ; when
the present century has waned there will, doubtless, be an
annual reunion of the survivors of the early life battle of
old " Moreton Bay," and perhaps, all things considered, and
King David's dictum about " three score years and ten," it
■would be hardly advisable to postpone the "gathering" of
the fossils till the year 1900, or " Auld Lang Syne" will
have faded quite away into the "Land of the Leal."
Let us call the roll. Let us lift the veil which hides from
the present the past, and those who made the present — the
good old have-beens. What of Little, " Bobby " Cribb,
George Harris, Frederick Bigge, T. L. Murray Prior, James
Warner, George Thorn, Robert Douglas, Taylor Winship,
and all the others *? Gone ! eh gone. Like Tom Moore,
When I remember all
The friends so linked together
I've seen aroand me fall
Like leaves in wintry weather ;
I feel like one who treads alone
Some banquet hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled, whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed.
George Thorn.
George Thorn left us some years ago. He was the
oldest free resident. Older even than Andrew Petrie as a
Moreton Bay settler ; and unless it was Tom Brooks, who
came here in 1822, George was the oldest white inhabitant.
Pleasant, genial old George ! the exploring associate of rol-
licking Arthur Hodgson in many a midnight camp about
the time when the Prince of Wales was a baby, and when
the disciples of Bright and Cobden had begun to multiply
in the land. 'Twas then, and even earlier still, that he first
GEORGE THORN. 213
crossed that serrated limestone backbone, dotted with grass-
trees, which overlooked the basin of fair Ipswich, nigh unto
the site where Challinor's paddock now commands a full
sight of the hoary battlements of the Main Range, the portal
of Darling Downs ; and there, under the name we have
mentioned, sprung up a town that could a tale unfold, if its
old ironbark plates, sills, and slabs would but speak. A tale
of nights of Avit, when Gore Jones, Frank Lucas, and many
more, bandied flashes of fun, that recalled the Nodes of old
Blackwood's Magazine ; for there was bone and vitality in
the limestone waters of our town, and men ate and drank
of the best. George Holt made bread of the flour of Hart,
and the volcanic pastures of Mount Flinders sent in the
purest butter. Faircloth saw that the Club cellars were
replete with Venve Clecpiot^ and Yaldwyn was responsible
for the four-year-old turkeys ; and what even if Lightfoot
and Van Tromp would now finish considerably in the ruck
of Richmond and Goldsbrough % We'll warrant you their
hearts were none the less right, and even if double distanced
they would rush in with open mouths and extended tails ;
and as the racehorses were gallant, so the women who came
to see theni compete were aye fair to view, and many a
Queensland love-match was cemented in old Ipswich, where
the hard water would never make good tea. "We never seem
to have such sunsets and sunrises now-a-days as used to be
witnessed from that old Limestone Ridge, between 1855 and
1860. Perhaps it is that we are getting older and cannot see
them so well ; and the early cup of coffee, too, on the old race-
course about 5 a.m., at the end of May, tastes quite differently
in 1876 from what it used to in 1859, in the year of Mincemeat
and Lizard's match \ for things and people grow quickly and
fade quickly in 27° south latitude, and the babies of yesterday
are the brides of to-day, and the bridegroom of that hour has
perchance his will proved by a proctor in this one.
214 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
How well do I remember one sunset. It certainly was a
glorious one, and of the real Australian type, too. First of
all the sky generally was cloudless, with blue above and
golden-yellow in the west to about 5° above the horizon and
from thence to the zenith was a dense cloud of brown, umber,
red, and gold, the background being an iron grey tinted
with chocolate everywhere, and the light red that lit it up
had its brown and its gold also insepai^ably blended with it,
a delicious brown, too, that was wedded to the red and
wedded the grey impartially and improved them both. And
the dark cloud looked like curtain after curtain, brilliant
edged and hung each behind and a little below the other in
endless terraces, and the vanished sun had tipped each hang-
ing edge with this red gold light on the brown. And there
vs ere places and patches where a whiter cloud, flecked with
the all-pervading red, looked like a blood-stained half-washed
cloth. And away to the east, where the nearly full moon
had risen, were more but isolated patches of the iron grey,
brown tinted, and with the warm blood-red glow in the
centre of each one of them. Then red-brown wavelets of
colour broke across the western grey-brown sky field, like
parallel ripples on a sea beach ; and these four items, brown,
red, gold, and grey, made up a sunset effect unsurpassable,
even if approachable for beauty, but, alas ! so short-lived,
One had to drink it in and engrave it sharply on the memory,
for, anon, the bright brilliant and beautiful reds and golds
and browns had all departed with their father, the sun, and
the iron-grey reigned, solitary and unattractive, by itself
once more.
Robert Little.
Robert Little was something more than a local solicitor ;
he was a man of tact and benevolence, a consistent Church-
man, and served the office of warden at St. John's befoi'e
ROBERT LITTLE. 215
"separation," He was not unknown in athletics forty years
ago, and many were the pair-oared contests on our river
before it could be finally decided whether " Bob " Little
cum " Harry " Buttanshaw were or were not superior to
"Tom" Jones, of Burambah, and another oarsman whose
name I forget. Another sculler and friend of Mr. Little's
was Mr. Bigge, of Mount Brisbane, and local wits rang the
changes on Mr. " Big " and Mr. Little. Indeed, the little
impromptu Saturday afternoon regattas from some private
house or other on the river bank were a feature in the social
life of early Brisbane days, when " everybody knew every-
body," and there was no ceremony. Pair-oared contests
were in vogue, and the contestants drew in a hat for boats
and partners, and the ladies' delight was supreme when a
tall young man of list, was in some "tub," mated with
and outweighed by a short, fat, elderly one of J 5 ditto, and
the boat with a heavy " list " all the way round the course,
for the sex are mischievous, and fun was the one element
sought for at these little meetings. It need hardly be said
that everyone manfully accepted his position, and pulled to
the bitter end, be the task what it might, for there were no
Sybarites among the early " Moreton Bay " men. A proof
of Little's tact and quick wit was furnished in the early '50
days, when squatters and immigrants took opposite political
views. A noisy crowd of " Liberals " vociferated near a
house where a lady lay sick. Out came Little with another
lady on his arm, and being a known " squatters' man," they
followed him up with their noise, which was all he wanted—
namely, to draw the disturbance away from the place where
the patient was lying. When the first court was established
here in 1857, with Mr. Milford as Judge and Mr. Pring as
Crown Prosecutor, Little was appointed Crown Solicitor, and
the extra work necessitating a partner, Mr. William Rawlins
joined him. The Brisbane climate did not suit Mrs. Raw-
216 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
lins, who was a daughter of Captain Murchison, of South
Australia, and Mr. Rawlins left for New Zealand. After
this, in 1860, Mr. E. I. C. Browne joined the business.
Frederic Bigge.
Frederic Bigge died in England. He was one of our
Moreton Bay pioneer squatters of the early days. A good
oarsman, his muscle was as often proved as that of his friend,
the late Mr. Robert Little. "Bigge's Camp" (renamed "Grand-
chester" by the classic Sir George Bowen) derived its title from
the deceased gentleman, and Mr. Henry Mort (afterwards of
Franklyn Vale) was at one time manager for the Messrs.
Bigge (Frederic and Francis). The Mount Brisbane station,
managed by Mr. William Bowman, a son of Dr. Bowman,
of the Hawkesbury, New South Wales, was another pro-
perty of the same firm's, and famous for the Westminster
and Touchstone strains of racing blood in the horses bred
there. Many a Queensland turf winner came from the
pretty station near Wivenhoe. "Bigge's Folly," a con-
spicuous building in the "early fifties" at Cleveland — the
great seaport and Brisbane extinguisher that was to have
been, and where wool in abundance really was shipped during
the days of the Crimean War — is another memento of the
name that forms one more of the very few now left of the
early band of pioneers who cleared the way for us in More-
ton Bay.
T. L. Murray-Prior
T. L. Murray-Prior was a Moreton Bay man of the early
Leslie and Gamraie days, and one whose name is inseparably
mixed with all its pleasantest memories. His father. Colonel
Prior, was a genial Irishman, and the inevitable returning-
otficer and chairman of hospital and similar election meetings
in the infant days of Brisbane ; for tact and good temper
JOSHUA PETER BELL. 217
■were essential in those days of open voting, and it was often
"a hard row to hoe," even then, ere the peaceful ballot
system came in. The son inherited the father's suavity, and
■would smile under the most trying circumstances in the bush,
"the Senate, or the drawing-room. I well remember one even-
ing after a pleasant dance at James Warner's, on Kangaroo
Point, Prior and I from pure jollity indulged in a fistic open-
handed spar in the presence of two or three ladies, who had
not yet put on their cloaks, and who were highly amused at
the harmless fun. Nearly forty years later I met him stroll-
ing on the North Quay. He told me he had been walking
to the old Milton Cemetery, and I remarked casually that
Robert Little's first wife was buried there, and Prior said,
"Yes ; and by the way, do you know there is news by cable
that Robert Little himself is dead in Ceylon?" I was the
:first one to tell him of the awful wreck of the " Quetta,"
where so many of his friends were lost, and I shall not
readily forget his change of countenance at the sad news.
The last time I saw Mr. Prior was at his rooms in Parlia-
ment House, when he spoke of H. Stuart Russell, who
wrote the "Genesis of Queensland," and whom Prior saw
shortly before at Adelaide, en route to London, and so altered
from the Russell of the " fifties " that he did not recognise
bim until he began, as Prior said, to " talk Queensland."
Mr. Prior was certainly the most courtly and polished of
the early pioneers here, and spoken disloyalty about the
•Queen was one of the few matters that had power to make
him openly angry.
Joshua Peter Bell.
And Sir Joshua Peter Bell. His death was an awfully
sudden one. How well I remember the shock which was
occasioned the community when the news of the death of
the one man whom everybody admired and respected was
218 AUSTRALIAN PIOXEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
circulated. His demise occurred on the 20th December,
1881. He had a day or two before returned from a trip to
the South, and, if anything, was apparently in a better state
of health than usual. On the day of the sad event he was
engaged in finishing whatever business he had to do in
Brisbane, in order that he might spend Christmas with his
family at his home — Jimbour. Thus engaged, he called afc
the Bank of Australasia, and, while there, spoke to Mr,
Dixon, the manager, of a passing sensation of illness. It
seemed to be nothing serious, however, and both gentlemen
got into a cab to drive up Queen-street. They had hardly
gone a hundred yards when Sir Joshua's head drooped for-
ward, and he became partly unconscious. The cab was of
course stopped, and everything possible done, but it was of
no avail, and he expired shortly afterwards.
Sir Joshua was born in Kildare, Ireland, on the 19th of
January, 1827, and had therefore nearly completed his 55th
year at the time of his death. Although not actually a
native of this continent, he was virtually an Australian,
having been brought to Sydney as a child four years old
and educated in that city. He came to Queensland in 1847,
and, in conjunction with other members of his family, became
part owner of what was then the magnificent station Jim-
bour, which has remained his home ever since. When
Queensland was separated from New South Wales, Mr.
Bell's prominent position as a leading squatter naturally
induced him to enter public life, and he was first elected to
the Assembly as one of the members for West Moreton in
1863. He soon made his mark in Parliament, and in
December, 1864, was offered and accepted tlie position of
Treasurer in the Herbert Ministry. He kept the position
when that Ministry merged into the Macalister Government,
the last-named gentleman taking the departments of Lands
and Works, Mr. Mackenzie that of Colonial Secretary, and
JOSHUA PETER BELL. 21J)
Mr. Lilley becoming Attorney-General. In further reorgani-
sations of the Government, Mr. Bell took charge of the
Lands Office in August, 1866, and became Acting-Minister
for Works in May, 1867. At the general election of June,
1867, Mr. Bell was again returned for West Moreton in
conjunction with Messrs. P. O'Sullivan and G. Thorn. Next
year, 1868, Mr. Bell was elected for Northern Downs, and
continued to sit for that constituency for some years. In
March, 1871, he again accepted the position of Treasurer
in the Ministry formed by Mr. Palmer, and held it till that
gentleman resigned in January, 1874. At the general
election of the preceding year, 1873, under the new Act
which had re-distributed and increased the number of electo-
rates, Mr. Bell was returned for Dalby (the seat now held
by Mr. Joshua T. Bell — a worthy son of a worthy father),
which seat he held till the general election of 1878, when
he was again returned by Northern Downs. On the 3rd
April, 1879, he resigned his seat in the Assembly to accept
the position of President of the Legislative Council, which
he held till his death. About three weeks prior to his death
he received the honour of knighthood from Her Majesty.
Mr. Bell's career as a public man was characterised by
the strictest integrity and honourable dealing. Though not
a brilliant orator, his words were well chosen, and he always
commanded the respect and attention of Parliament. As
Treasurer he displayed a good deal of practical ability, and
as a politician he was liked and respected, even by those
divided from him by the broadest lines of party demarcation.
As a citizen he was a thoroughly popular man. The senti-
ment entertained for him was not merely respect and esteem,,
but positive personal liking among thousands who hardly
even knew him by sight. This was due in great part to the
unfailing courtesy which he always displayed in his inter-
course with high and low. It was a courtesy which was
220 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
natural, the index to a kindly disposition. He had the rare
gift of being able to maintain his own views, and take his
own part in politics and business, without making enemies
of his opponents. Always freely tolerating those who
differed from him, he earned from them the same considera-
tion. It is a significant fact that, although a squatter whose
run was in part given up to selection, and although associated
in politics with what was known as the squatting party, he
was always on the best of terms with the selectors. So
great was his personal popularity and influence that the
electorates in his own district furnished seats which might
almost be said to have been at his disposal. And bushmen
from one end of Queensland to another spoke of Jimbour
as the place where the old-fashioned Australian hospitality
was to be found in its perfection. Enterprising in business,
ready to take part in all schemes for the industrial advance-
ment of the colony. Sir Joshua was equally active in the
encouragement of its sports and pastimes. He was a great
patron of the turf, and, as owner of racing stock, had made
a reputation throughout Australia for honourable dealing.
Sir Joshua Peter Bell was a singularly fortunate man.
Blessed with an even temper, possessed of everything which
was calculated to lend zest to existence, in the full strength
and vigour of manhood, surrounded by friends and com-
panions not one of whom ever grudged him for a moment
the honour and the distinction which had come to him, what
mortal man could have been deemed more fortunate ? If
at times there were difficulties to be overcome, they were
met with an even mind, which maintained its supremacy
and asserted its superiority with confident ability. Sir
Joshua Peter Bell was not an ambitious man in the sense
of putting forward any great efforts to attain the rewards
of ofiice or of political position. Equably and unostenta-
tiously he went on his way, without apparently attempting
EDWIN NORRIS. 221
to win anything, and yet he won many things which are
regarded as well worth having — wealth, honour, distinction,
and, more than all these, the unaffected regard and esteem
of his countrymen. He was a typical representative of the
first generation of his Australian countrymen. He was a
public-spirited man, patriotic in the best sense, a man who
would make no ostentatious professions, but one who would;
dare a good deal, one who would have done much and sacri-
ficed much if he had been called upon to do so in the path
of duty.
'Twas ever &o ; and those we least would spare
Are taken from ns in what seems their prime
But is not ; in a life like his has been
Years fifty-five stand good for three-score ten.
For there was work to do in those old days
When youthful Joshua — he of Jimbour — stirred
And laid foundation of those princely farms
Which dazzle moderns with their wealth of fleece.
A genial Celt ; he spared not himself ;
Rode hard, by night or day 'twas all the same,
For he had cattle good, and ne'er could creep
Nor planned to lengthen out a slippered age.
Peace to him, gentles : we who knew him young,
And watched him as he journeyed to mid-age,
Swear knighthood added nothing to his shield.
He's passed : a pioneer of Darling Downs,
Gone to join Deuchar, Kent, and good men true ;
And maids and children of that region fair,
In days to come, shall speak of Joshua Bell.
We, holding faith in the uidiurried past.
Will trust the unhurrying future and its God
To do what seems Him best in His good time,
Whose centuries are but n)oments to the wise.
Edwin Norris.
Edwin Norris, solicitor, died at Townsville. He was,
nevertheless, an old Bri)<hane identity, and was once in the
office of Mr. Robert Little. He was an enthusiastic yachts-
222 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
man and astronomer, and purchased the telescope and
observatory fittings of the late Captain O'Reilly. He was
one of the few now left of those who took part in the
historical cricket match between Brisbane and Ipswich,
played at Chuwar, the " North Shore " of Ipswich, during
the June race week of 1859, when Dr. Cannan, Shepherd
Smith, Edwin Norris, Colin Munro (now of the Burdekin
River), C. F. Bell, Walter Birley (of Kangaroo Point), and
others made up the Brisbane team, and the Ipswich eleven
were recruited from a host of batting and bowling talent
then newly imported by the Banks of Australasia and New
South Wales in the shape of tellers and accountants from
those two " hives " of cricket — Maitland and Launceston ;
Coulson, Manighan, Logan, Harry Glassford, T. O. Bryant,
&c. Mr. Sladen, M.L.A., of Melbourne, was a spectator,
and the scores were : Ipswich, 99 and 43 ; Brisbane, 65 and
44, Shepherd Smith getting crippled hy a blow on the ankle
early in the game. The return match came off in October,
in Brisbane, near the North Quay. It was a hollow win
for the metropolis with 322 runs on the first innings — Bol-
ger, top score with 118, including an 8, hit into the river
from the back of Aubigny.
James Warner.
James Warner was one of the three surveyors — Dixon
(chief), Warner, and Staplyton, the latter being, with a
man named Tuck, cruelly butchered near Mount Lindsay —
who, about the year 1839, were sent by Governor Gipps to
Moreton Bay, first to make a coastal survey, and afterwards
to survey the place prior to free settlement. He also
assisted in the survey of Ipswich and other towns now
included in Queensland, and played an important part in
the attempted settlement of " Northern Australia " about
1847, when, owing to the dearth of labour, it was sought
ROBERT DOUGLAS. 223
to revive convicts and ticket-of- leave immigration. This
scheme, however, as most colonists know, was rudely shat-
tered by the striking of the " Lord Auckland " on a rock
just prior to landing — in fact while an impressive ceremony
of landing was being arranged. Up to 1884 the deceased
gentleman filled the position of a surveyor in the Lands
Department, and on the retirement of Mr. Douglas was, on
on the recommendation of the then Speaker, appointed
Sergeant- at -Arms. Tliis position he filled up to his
death. A better man never left us; full of genial fun and
jokes. He could read aloud the Bible to youthful hearers
with a pathos and heartfelt intonation which some arch-
bishop might envy. He learned to sail a boat in early life
on dark stormy nights in the English Channel, and could
handle one with anybody in Moreton Bay. During the fifty
years he was connected with the Survey Office he got
through an incredible amount of field and office work in
connection with his profession. He married the widow of
Captain Lindo, of the merchant service, and his hospitable
home on Kangaroo Point will be long remembered by those
who wei'e young in 1850-60, when a dance at Warner's was
the best in Brisbane. He left several daughters, one married
to Mr. W. V. Brown, M.L.A., of Townsville ; another to
Mr. F. Lord, of Eskdale, and a third to Mr. A. Briggs, of
Darling Downs. His genial good humour was with him to
the last. He comically complained to the writer that he
was getting old and cross, for he found that if after spend-
ing three weeks at a map, some one upset the ink over it,
he was apt to lose his temper, as he would not have done
thirty years ago.
Robert Douglas.
Robert Douglas was in Brisbane over fifty years ago. He
began life in his new home as a farmer near Ipswich, and
224 AUSTRALIAN PIONKERS AND REMINISCENCES.
afterwards established the first complete soap-boiling plant
in Moreton Bay, A huge boiler, rolled over before being
put in position at his works on Kangaroo Point in 1854, by
its noise caused terrified people in North Brisbane to imagine
that a Russian and English frigate were fighting in the Bay,
and to contemplate sending the women and children to the
back of Mount Coot-tha for safety in case of the worst.
Mr. Douglas had a happy knack of making all friends and
no enemies through life, and his breezy waterside place on
Kangaroo Point was (in any year that began with 185 — )
the scene of those pleasant Saturday afternoon reunions,,
when "every one knew evei'ybody " in Brisbane, and when
impromptu pulling races and quoits for the gentlemen?
assisted by " square gin," with tea and music for the ladies,,
and a round game or dance in the evening, used to finish
the week's work pleasantly, and "round off'" the Saturday
afternoons all the year round in a satisfactory manner.
Ehe^i fugaces, &c. Mr, Douglas was Sergeant-at-Arms in
the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1874 till
1884, when he resigned.
Simeon Lord.
Simeon Lord, of Brisbane, was not merely an old resident
of Brisbane, but also of Tasmania in bygone days. He was
the father of the late Roljert Lord, one time member for
Gympie, and he owned the tine pastoral property known as
Eskdale, on the Upper Brisbane River. The name of Lord
is borne by a large number of disconnected families in Aus-
tralia ; there was Mr. Edward Lord, of Drayton, in this
colony, a pioneer of 1841, and father of Mrs, George Raff*;,
they are numerous also in Sydney, where a Mr. Lord was
city treasurer at one time ; while in Tasmania there were
three or four distinct families of the name : Edward Lord,
of Lawrenny ; Lord, of Orielton ; and Simeon Lord, of
Hon. a. Macalister. Hon. John Douglas.
Sir Charles Lilley.
Hon. James Taylor. Sir A. Hodgson.
TAYLOR WINSHIP. 225
Avoca; another Simeon Lord, who owned property at
Botany, near Sydney, died, more than fifty years back, in
that city. The Simeon Lord, of Brisbane, was a man of
business energy and sterling integrity, in whom the healthy
climate of Tasmania laid (as it has done with many others)
the foundation of a long, useful, and busy life.
Taylor Wixship.
Captain Taylor Winship, of Cleveland, was one of the
oldest residents in Brisbane. He arrived here before IS-iS,
and one of his first tasks was the building, for Messrs. James
Reid and Thomas Boyland, of the river steamer " Hawk,"
the successor to James Canning Pearce's " Experiment,"
and which, unlike the latter boat, was a financial success.
In the building of the " Hawk," Mr. James Barr, ship-
wright, assisted. Boyland commanded her, and her "bones"
now lie in a river of North Queensland after some twelve
or fifteen years of successful trade on tlie Brisbane and
Bremer Rivers. Mr. Reid afterwards had Camboon station,
on the Dawson River. Mr. Barr rebuilt Harris's wharf
in 1855, when it slid one morning into the river through
one of those vexatious landslips for which the North
Quay has always been so notorious. Captain Winship
and his family had a beautiful orangery and garden on
the river bank in 1853 and 1854, near the south end of
Victoria Bridge. He was one of the marine experts who,
with Captain Richard James Coley (Lloyd's agent and
surveyor), ofiicially visited the wreck of the "Phoebe Dun-
bar," immigrant ship. Captain Tucker, in the South Passage
in May, 1856. He was one of the few remaining types of
the old school of Australian master mariners, and was a
sailor and agriculturist in one. Captain Winship also built
the " Swallow " and the " Bremer."
226 australian pioneers and reminiscences.
James Sutherland Mitchell.
James Sutherland Mitchell died in Sydney a year or two
ago. He was a very old Australian colonist, and connected
to some extent with Queensland also. He was originally,
in the "forties," in the Commissariat Department at Hobart,
and married a daughter of Commissary James Laidley, who
died at Sydney in 1835. Mr. Mitchell was consequently a
brother-in-law of Messrs. T. S. Mort and Henry Mort. He
subsequently became manager of a fire insurance company
in Sydney, and in the year 18.56 the managership of the
Kent Brewery was offered to the author, and on his declining
it in favour of the then brighter prospects of the projected
new colony, Mr. Mitchell was offered and accepted the
position, and died extremely wealthy. He was a director
of the Joint Stock Bank and Peak Downs Copper Mine in
1872, and visited Queensland in 1863 with Mr. Abraham
Fitzgibbon, the projector of the first local railway from
Ipswich to Toowoomba. After the death of his first wife
Mr. Mitchell married a sister of the late Sir George Wigram
Allen, Speaker of the New South Wales Assembly. He
was a gifted and scientific man, and author of some very
valuable experiments on the strength and tenacity of Aus-
tralian timber ; while, as a wood carver, his amateur efforts
in the way of gigantic picture frames, reproducing bird.s,
fruits, and flowers with marvellous fidelity, would almost
vie with the masterly productions of artists like Grinling
Gibbons. He was a genial and large-hearted man, and left
a stainless record behind him as one more of the now fast
sundering links left us with the Australia of the "quiet
forties."
CHAPTER XI.
The Roll Call— Old Time Queenslanders— Addition's to the
List— Richard F. Phelan — Walter Scott — H. P. Fox —
Richard S. Warry — GEORfiE Harris — W. J. Munce —
Thomas Lade— Robert Cribb — Henry Jordax — T. B.
Stephens— A New Generation.
Richard Fitzgerald Phelan.
-'. Vis's. i^L-y
ICHARD FITZGERALD PHELAN
eoulcl claim to be one of the pioneer
colonists of Brisbane ; and, by "pioneers,"
I mean those wlio were here not only
before separation, but before the Crimean
War. Mr. Phelan was one of the early
storekeepers of Brisbane, and built his
"^'^J,^'^ Avooden warehouse and carried on business
where the valuable "Australian" corner now is. He
subsequently sold the building and land to the late
Henry Buckley for £900 ( a fair price in those days ),
and Charles Trundle, sen., carried on the business till
Thomas Hayes V)ought the corner from Mr. Buckley. Mr.
Piielan afterwards held office for many years in the local
branch of the Bank of New South AVales, and must have
been well advanced in years at the time of his death, his
brother, in the sheriff's office at Sydney, having passed away
fully eighteen years ago. Mr. Phelan married a lady from
Philadelphia, and was a prominent and zealous member of
the Anglican Church in Brisbane, and highly esteemed for
228 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
his genuine and sterling integrity. Tlie men who linked
ancient with modern Brisbane are rapidly passing from us,
and none were more respected, or more worthy of it, than
the late R. F. Phelan.
Walter Scott.
The death of Walter Scott, of Taromeo station, removed
the last survivor of the old resident pioneer squatters of the
Upper Brisbane River and South Burnett districts, all so
well known in " Brisbane town," in the " forties " and the
"fifties." All have now passed away. Balfour and Forbes,
of Colinton, and Donald Mackenzie, of the same ; Barker,
of Nanango ; David M'Connel and Alpin Cameron, of Cress-
brook ; Ivory, of Eskdale ; Mortimer, of Manumbar ; Clap-
perton, of Tarong ; Mactaggart, of Kilkivan ; Lawless, of
Boobyjan ; T. Jones, of Barambah ; and D. M. Jones, of
Boonara, are, one and all, mere memories now ; as is also
Tooth, of Widgee, where Gympie now is. It will be noted
how most of the above were from the land of the tartan
and "pibroch," the very cradle of pioneers and explorers
—time-honoured old Scotland ! Mr. Scott lived for forty
years at Taromeo, longer than is usual on most Queensland
stations by their occupants ; though in New South Wales,
the older colony, the Suttors held Wyagden for sixty-five
years, and the Rouses, of Guntawang (whose grandparents
landed in Sydney in 1801), could possibly show a still longer
holding. Turning from the past to the future, it is probable
that in another fifty years' time Widgee, Glastonbury,
Nanango, Kilkivan, Boobyjan, Manumbar, and other places
in the "golden belt" of the South Burnett district, will
employ more hands in mining operations than in pastoral
and agricultural work combined, when time, capital, and
labour shall have brought their mineral capabilities more
into notice than at present.
RICHARD S. WARRY. 229
H. P. Fox.
H. P. Fox, of New Farm-road, was also a very old colo-
nist, one of the arrivals in the forties. He belonged to an
old Kentish family, and was a brother-in-law of Mr. Wm,
Bailey (another of the Kentish waterside boat - building
fraternity), who used to " fix up " yachts and skiffs for
Thomas Jones, of Barambah and New Farm (brother-in-law
of Sir R. R. Mackenzie), in 1856 and thereabouts, in the
early boat-racing days of Brisbane, and when the better
classes of Brisbane who lived by the river side used to come
to town as often in a boat as in a buggy, for the river was
always a well-kept road, which the other one was not. Mr.
Fox was father of Mr. Fox the lithographer to the Survey
Department, and of Mr. Fox the partner of Mr. Unmack,
the solicitor. He belonged to a class, happily numerous in
Queensland — the noncomformist teetotaller one. He had
daughters, as well as sons, of whom were Mrs. Carvosso,
Mrs. G. J. Walker, and Mrs. Buck, of Sandgate, and his
descendants must be pretty numerous. Like all Kentish
people he was an enthusiastic admirer of cricket, and could
be seen every Saturday in the Queen's Park on the same
seat, year after year, till near his death, when his failing
eyesight rendered him unable to distinguish his favourite
bats, and he had to part with that long enjoyed pleasure.
Richard S. Warry.
Richard S. Warry began business in Queen-street, Bris-
bane, about the year 1853. He afterwards built that tine
brick store next to the Royal Hotel, and subsequently the
Q.N. Bank's first office. When first erected, in 1862, it
was the most substantial edifice in Queen-street. The
deceased gentleman long survived his brothers. Thomas,
who died in 1864, was a chemist, on the site of Mr. Beesley's
present establishment, and Charles Warry was a chemist in
230 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Ipswich, and died at the early age of 38. Soon afterwards,
their father, when hale and hearty at the age of 78, lost his life
by a slip between a steamer and wharf down the river, and the
consequent shock to the system. The sisters, Mrs. Hugh Bell
and Mrs. G. L. Pratten, are now the only local survivors of
the family, which came from Dorset, in the old country.
George Harris.
George Harris spent his early youth in Victoria and New
South Wales, and, like most Australian young men of spirit,
worked at the diggings in the former place, his " mates "
(if I remember rightly) being Captain Sholl and the late
Donald Coutts, of Jondaryan and Bulimba. Mr. Harris,
with his brother John, his sister and mother, arrived in
Brisbane about 1847, and carried on business first at South
Brisbane, and after-wards at Short-street, on a site purchased
from James Gibbon. George Harris was a gentleman of
great vital business energy and hospitality. The writer has
known him in 1855 and 1857 to clear out and pile up the
merchandise in his capacious store at the Short-street wharf,
cover it up with red and blue blankets and white calico in
a decorative style, and give a grand dance and supper on
the premises to the leading people of Brisbane, the proceed-
ings lasting till 4 a.m., when he, having shaken hands with
the last guest, would set to work, replace the merchandise,
and be at full swing of business again at 9 a.m., without
one minute of sleep, and without having lost a moment of
the working business hours in the twenty-four. But " sani-
tary " science (from a municipal standpoint) was then
unknown in Brisbane, and every one was strong and healthy.
W. J. Munce.
W. J. Munce was an "old identity " alike of Sydney and
of Brisbane, Bott, one of the shipping and mercantile
THOMAS LADE. 231
pioneers of Sydney, left his property at death to his old
friend Munce, who arrived in Brisbane in October, 1859,
to open business for Christopher Newton and Co., of Syd-
ney. He was an ardent and practical supporter of the
Volunteer movement, which sprung into existence in Brisbane
and all over the British Empire in 1860. He purchased
from me the land on Wickham-terrace, where he built the
house successively occupied by Dr. Fullerton, Sir James
Garrick, Mr. Alexander Stewart, and Dr. Rendle. Messrs.
Christopher Newton and Co.'s store in Eagle-street, where
that of Messrs. D. L. Brown and Co.'s now stands, was the
only building in Brisbane which, in 1868, was considered
large enough and safe enough to give a ball to the Duke of
Edinburgh in, when H.R.H. proposed the health of "The
Ladies."
Thomas Lade.
Thomas Lade, of Upper Kedron Brook, was a vetei'an
colonist, and died in his 89th year, after forty-two years of
residence here. A farmer in Kent, he was a farmer here
also, and in the early days his IsaV)ella grapes, poultry,
honeycomb, and butter were famous. Had there been a
" social column " in those days we should have read of the
pleasant riding parties organised amongst the "upper ten"
to "Lade's" which used to be the fashion in Brisbane in
the afternoon of a summer's day in the "fifties and sixties,"
the pleasure-seekers coming back laden with grapes or other
spoil, which gave an object to the "outing." Mr. Lade
delighted to climb in summer time to the level summit of
Mount Bartley, a big hill which extended from Upper
Kedron to The Gap, and he used to say that it was at mid-
summer " a blanket and a suit of clothes cooler than
Brisbane was." His "young friend," Mott, another ancient,
missed him like many more of us did, and he was the last
232 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
of the aged trio who held out so long, the others being W.
Duckett White and Robert Cribb. Mr. Lade was the
father of Mr, J. J. Lade, and uncle of the late Mr. N. Lade.
Robert Cribb.
The death of Robert Cribb would, in the mind of an
ordinary modern Queenslander, only give rise to a passing
feeling of wonder that any one could live to be 88 in such
an enervating climate. But, to the old residents of the
"fifties," the well known and time-honoured name recalls
the days when Brisbane was sylvan, primitive, and sweet-
aired, up to its very heart in Queen-street. The " Pascoe
Fawkner " of Queensland remembered the battle of Water-
loo, and was alive when Nelson breathed his last in the
cockpit of the " Victory," the last surviving " youths " of
Trafalgar (such as Sartorius and Tynmore) being now for
some time dead and aged high up in the " nineties." How
well I remember " Bob " Cribb on the paddle box of the
old " Yarra " (September, 1859) eating his basin of bread
and milk in the open, as he voyaged to take his seat for
Moreton Bay in the Sydney Parliament. He was "aye sound"
on the subject of coolies and convicts in South Queensland,
for North Queensland and its wants did not then exist. He
held that £\ an acre was the lowest sensible price for
land, to keep the Jay Goulds at bay. And the Courier
spoke of him as "that indefatigable old 'die-hard,' honest
Bob Cribb " during the hot political separation days. His
simplicity and kindness in rendering assistance to others, to
his own detriment at times, were only paralleled by what
another old resident once did. Walking with a friend, he
was accosted by a borrower, who asked for £12 and tendered
a £20 diamond ring as security. The £12 was handed over,
and the ring as well. When the borrower had gone the
friend said, " Why did you part with the ring 1 you have
HENRY JORDAN. 233
now no security." "Oh! (said the lender, with exquisite
simplicity) if I had taken his ring I should have stopped
him from getting more money when he wanted it."
Henry Jordan,
Henry Jordan, who represented South Brisbane so long
and so well, and than whom no man was better or more
favourably known in Queensland politics, was the son of a
Wesleyan minister, and, although born at Lincoln, was
■descended from an old Devonshire family, who possessed a
■considerable estate in Dartmoor, which, though long since
passed into Chancery, still bears the family name. In early
life he had unusual advantages in the tuition of his father,
a man of broad views and scholarly attainments, who com-
bined with the studies of languages and science, that of
political economy. He was for some time at Kingswood
College, Bristol, and afterwards studied medicine with Dr.
Body, of London. His health failing, he went to America,
and after seeing and enjoying the wonders of the New
World, returned to work, choosing dentistry as his profession.
He studied at the London Institution, and also under Mr.
Orampton and Sir Edwin Saunders, and practised success-
fully in the good old town of Derby for ten years. Being
a man of deep religious feeling, he felt at length compelled
to offer himself for the Church, and thought of taking orders
under the Bishop of Nottingham, but the Wesleyan Mission-
ary Society urged his coming to Australia. Uncertain of
his health, he came out at his own expense (not wishing to
burden the Society) and entered upon mission work in a
country district at Mount Barker, South Australia, where
the unusual fatigue and exposure were too great for him,
and he was compelled to abandon the work for which he
had given up his practice, his country, and his home.
He then went to Sydney, and resumed his old profe.ssion,
234 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
entering into partnership with Mr. David Fletcher, the well-
known dentist of that city. In 1856 he came to Brisbane.
He at once entered heartily into all the interests of the
young colony, ever ready to sacrifice his own for his country's
good. He was a member of the first Parliament. For
several successive Parliaments he represented important
constituencies, and, as Agent - General for Immigration,,
Registrar - General, and Minister for Lands, did faithful
service, and his enthusiasm, self - sacrifice, and great
success in the cause of immigration are historical records.
In religion he was a member and lay preacher of the
Wesleyan Church, though greatly deploring her secession
from the mother Church, and her many unhappy divisions.
He called himself " an old Church Methodist." At the
request of Bishop Hale, for more than two years he acted
as chaplain to the Brisbane Gaol. In private life Mr.
Jordan was reserved and somewhat exclusive, and possessed
the old-fashioned courtesy and high code of honour, too rare,,
unhappily, in these modern days. It may be claimed for
him that he was, to use the words of his early friend, Sir
Charles Nicholson, the first President of the Queensland
Legislative Council, " A scholar, a gentleman, and a Chris-
tian." He married a daugliter of the Rev. Nathaniel Turner,,
whose name, as one of the earliest missionaries to New
Zealand and the South Seas, is well known and revered.
Mr. Jordan was also a member of the first Board of
Education in Queensland, and represented the city of Bris-
bane in the first session of the first Parliament. He was
Commissioner and Agent- General for Immigration from.
January, 1861, to December, 1866 ; and subsequent to his
return from England engaged in sugar planting in the Logan
district. Mr. Jordan sat in the Legislative Assembly as
representative of East Moreton from 1868 to 1871 ; and
four years later was appointed Registrar-General, an office
HENRY JORDAN. 235-
which he held till 1883. In that year he was elected junior
member for South Brisbane, his colleague being the late Mr.
Simon Fraser. On the death of the Hon. W. Miles (Minis-
ter for Works), the Hon. C. B. Dutton, then Minister for
Lands, was transferred to the Department of Mines and
Works, and Mr. Jordan was intrusted with the care of the
Lands Department. At the general election of 1888 Mr.
Jordan was elected senior member for South Brisbane, which
position he held up to the time of his death. In 1889 he
was offered a seat in the Upper House, but declined it.
Henry Jordan was a good man. There is a spot in one
of the lobbies of the House, where he paused for a moment
or two every day when on his way to the Legislative Cham-
l)er, to ask Divine aid and blessing. The one action in all
his Parliamentary career on which he looked back with
satisfaction, was his motion for opening the House with
prayer, thus laying the foundation stone of the new colony
on Christian principles. One other mistake he would not
have wished uncorrected, and that was his statement that
his want of success in sugar-planting was "the result of
white labour." The white labour was highly successful.
He employed thirty or forty men at good wages ; these men
were chiefly farmers or sons of farmers around, who came
to him season after season, and a feeling of mutual goodwill
and esteem was then formed, which has lasted as long as his
life, and to .some of tliese men, or their children, he owed
his frequent return to Parliament. He has stated that he
made more money in one year's sugar-growing than in any
other one year of his life. Insufficient capital, high rate of
interest, and three successive years of frost, induced him
to discontinue the work. He gave up good practice and
prospects to go home in the cause of emigration, for an
inadequate allowance, whicli he had to supplement with his
own private means. He was afterwards reimbursed by the
:236 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
'Government, but not until after great loss and anxiety.
When the Australian Land and Mortgage Company offered
3iim the position of their first manager, with a salary of
£1500 per annum and other emoluments, he refused, and
kept his faith with his adopted country. He has had pre-
sented to him many means of enriching himself, but these,
Avith his sensitive code of honour, he deemed questionable,
and he steadfastly declined them all. He kept his hands
pure to the end. He was content to live and die a com-
3)aratively poor man, but he left to his children a rich legacy
— the record of a noble, patient, self-denying life.
T. B. Stephens.
T. B. Stephens ! Yes ! we remember him, a long time
ago; as far back as 18.52. It was our lot, then, to stand
behind the counter of the old Bank of New South Wales
in Sydney, a " crib " long since pulled down, and the site
covered with busy offices. We used to stand behind the
counter and take the money, and " T. B." (then of the firm
of Maude and Stephens, and in the wool line) used to come
to pay plenty of it in. He looked young enough then, but
'he always affected the same quiet suit of homespun-looking
-colonial tweed. We were destined to meet again and
live in the same house, and, a couple of years later, Bris-
bane was the scene of our operations, at the time when
the Siege of Sebastopol was in its infancy, which we used
to discuss as mortals now do the Shipka Pass. He was
seldom without his faithful pipe, even then forming perhaps
"the only weakness alike in his character and constitution.
His pungent Lancastrian dialect was unmistakeable, and
he sought out his countrymen clannishly ; and Grimes
"the elder — one of those wiry men, who never show age
till the final moment comes — was an early quest in
'Stephens' rambles in those bygone days. We had no politics,
T. B. STEPHENS. 237'
no caste, no officials here during the Crimean War, and it
was both amusing and amazing to hear Robert Ramsay
Mackenzie, circa 1856, a high Australian Tory of the day,^
knowing chiefly such ultra men as Stuart Donaldson, tiie-
first Premier of New South Wales — it was " immense,"
we repeat, to hear R. R. M. say, of the homespun, plain
spoken, tweed clad T. B. S., and after a short and sharp
confab on the wharf — Where was it, by the way 1 Raff's 1
Ah ! we forget now : n'importe — that he had never met with
a more respectable man in his life, nor one who had so
mightily convinced and surprised him as did the earnest,
broad-tongued, Chartist sort of individual he had encount-
ered so casually, R. R. M. never entered the Sydney
Parliament. He drew the line " somewheres " you know,,
but in his Queensland politics we fancy there was, perhaps,
just a soup^on of the Stephens proselyting leaven. Well I
the world kept on moving round, and we got " separation,"
and T. B. was grievously "licked" by John Watts, at Too-
woomba first election, but the Lancaster man, like more of
his race, was not to be denied. He came again and was,
for fifteen or twenty years, more before the public and less
with the writer than of yore. We ourselves don't like to
pester Colonial Treasurers and Ministers for Lands. Good-
ness knows ! they have enough of it with others ; and we
like to leave them alone, no matter how well we may have
previously known them, as we would not willingly be even
suspected of requiring Government office or patronage. Not
that " T. B.'" would have been a bad friend, if one had been
so situate ; for he never forgot an old chum. We first met
and lived at M'Cabe's old hotel in South Brisbane in 1854,
and he remained faithful to his first love till the last, bought
land and built and made his workshops on that side of
the river. He was not the stutt' of which poets or
painters are made, but neither England nor Australia would
"238 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
be what they are without the aid and presence of such men,
and in abundance, too. Happy is the man who knows his
own faults and his own perfections, for we all have some of
botli, though variedly dealt out. Happy the man who cul-
tivates tlie possible in his chai'acter, and lets the impossible
^' rip," and who does not blindly mistake his faults for his
perfections, as too many of us are apt to do. And now for
the subject of our discourse, we will
" No longer seek his merits to disclose,
Nor draw his frailties from that dread abode
Where both alike in trembling hope repose —
The Ijosom of his Father and his God."
From the archives of the not very distant past, I could
take down the records of many more pioneers. But neces-
sity knows no law^ ; especially that necessity which takes
the shape of a printer's fiat, which demands that you shall
say what you have to say in so many pages and no more.
The old folks go, and the young generation of youths and
maidens spring up in Brisbane and elsewhere in Queensland,
but the steamy torrid Decembers never change nor fail with
the damp breeze ; and the saturating heat and the strong
tremendous resultant life that shoots forth in every scion of
the tree and vegetable kingdom. And the ferry boats carry
over the gay and smartly dressed folk to church in 1894 even
as they did in l>^bi, only it is not the same river, nor the
same boat ; and it is the grand-children of the grand-parents
who figure on tlie scene to-day. Two generations have
passed, and cemeteries have been filled and biographies have
been written since the fifties you know. Yes ! old Job
Pratten, Tom Benin, Geo. Thorn (shall I mention the list?)
were with us, and the twang of the "Zummerzetsheer" and
the "Hampsheer" man echoed time and again in the tropic
scrub mid the orchids and staghorns of Queensland, where
erst "Biro" and Yarran and Weurum-neurum were the only
A NEW GENERATION. 239
sounds. But now both tongues are silent, and English as
she is spoke in mother Queensland by the new generation
reigns in their stead.
How delightful were the early mornings ? How pure the
mountain air on the neutral ground between the Darling:
Downs above, and Tent Hill and Helidon below the range ■?
What strong life it put into one even to breathe it 1 How
the girls of '43 who were grandmothers in '93 used to " set
their caps" at the comely youths of the manly "cross-
country " breed, but generally married the other fellow
after all. For though money was scarce and fortunes few,
and business matters seemed petty by comparison with
present expansion, yet life was never since the creation more
thoroughly enjoyed than it was by " boys and girls " alike
in the scanty settled districts country of early Australian
days. For indeed it was life I life ! life ! that thrilled and
pulsated through every fibre of the body, and every idea
and aim of the mind as well.
...-M<^5^...
CHAPTER XII.
The Capital of Queensland — Brisbane —Its Features ani>
Characteristics — The First Survey — Sir George Gipps —
Old Day Ocean Travellino — Amusing Incidents — Mc
Scotty's Triumph — Road Making Extraordinary — Philip
D. Vigers— Jovial Evenings— Early Sugar Days— South
Brisbane — Sea Sick Travellers — The Queensland Club —
Its Founders — The Financial Crisis of '66 — How it ali^
Happened.
RISBANE cannot be said to head the list of
Australian cities in point of beauty, but still it
is equally far from being at the tail of the race.
It lacks two great essentials in scenery, viz.,
church spires and snow-topped mountains.
There is plenty of water, an element without
which no scenery is perfect ; and divested of
which the finest landscape is but as a beautiful
woman with her eyes put out. Brisbane is little, if any,
inferior to Hobart and Sydney, as we will presently prove,
and far surpasses Melbourne and Adelaide from the artists'
point of view. Hobart — with its clean, sharp-cut, wliitey-
brown stone streets, rising in terraces from the harbour, its
open blue bay and its lofty but lesser hill sites, which would
be reckoned giants anywhere near Brisl)ane, but which nestle
dwarfed at the foot of Mount Wellington 4, 196feet high, snow-
topped, with a broad saddle summit ; and a noble overhung
basaltic cliff, 700 feet sheer, near the summit, and which looks
Mr. Christopher Rolleston.
Mr. G. E. Dalrymple.
Mr. W. Bowman.
Sir a. H. Palmer.
Mr. Matthew Goggs.
Sir R. R. Mackenzie.
i
I
i
BRISBANE. 241
more like seventy feet poised up there in the air — sits supreme
in ostentatious beauty amongst her Australian sisters. This
splendid background of mountain, only some three or four
miles from the city, is to Hobart what Vesuvius is to
Naples, and the Table Mountain to Cape Town, except that
old " Wellington " is a cool thousand feet or so over the
heads of the pair of these lesser lights. Sydney, again, with
its harbour, like a delicious sandy beached Highland loch,
embosomed in bold, shrub-clad hills ; and its church spires
and dense city glimmering in the haze of the setting sun as
seen from the heights over Vaucluse at eventide, and backed
up by the distant sandstone gorges and trackless defiles of
the Blue Mountains, is almost a perfect picture, and the
" almost " could be rewritten " quite " were there a snow-
clad peak handy to the spot, for everything else about it is
complete. But Melbourne, with all its fine public buildings
and broad streets, its handsome suburbs and grand shops,
lies too flat by the banks of the Yarra ditch ; and with
never a mountain to swear by save distant solitary Macedon,
a mere dwarf of some 2,400 feet or so, and the still lower
ranges of the Plenty and Dandenong. Melbourne, there-
fore, must look for her laurels in some other line than the
picturesque. Adelaide, too, with all its well-built streets
and busy marts, can raise no admiration for its dried up
little brooklet of a Torrens River. And Geelong, despite
its "Station Peak," its blue mud bay, and its rising terrace
site, fails somehow to catch and fill the eye as such a place
ought to do. Brisbane is more comparable with Launceston
than with any other Australian town. There is the same
fine broad tidal river, tapping the up-country and stretching
away in time to the blue water. But the Bremer hardly
can rank with the lovely South Esk, neither is there any
roaring cataract of 100 feet at Brisbane; nor would the
highest bank on the Brisbane River, viz., Mount Ommanney,
242 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
barely 200 feet high, near Woogaroo, make any show by the
side of the bold hills, 900 feet high, which border the Tamar
below Launceston, near where is, or was, the seat of Captain
Niley. Neither, again, does the Brisbane ever spread out
into such a noble lake as Swan Bay, on the Tamar. But
Brisbane can crow, too ; for her river is navigable higher
up, while Launceston is at the very head of hers, and the
scenery of Brisbane proper surpasses that of Launceston
almost as much as the climate of the latter is preferable to
the other ; in proof of which, let us ascend Wick ham-terrace
by way of a commencement, and make a few notes. "We find
tliat Brisbane city proper lies chiefly on a bend of the river,
wliich makes a cape pointing to the south-east. And the
city is well provided with "lungs," for on the north-west
are the Wickham-terrace reserves ; on the south-east are the
Queen's Park and Botanic Gardens ; and on the north-east
and south-west lies the river, fully a thousand feet wide.
These four breathing spots, which encircle a straggling built
city of less than a hundred acres in area, should give it air
enough in all conscience. And, looking from Wickham-
terrace, to the south-west are just visible the Darling Downs,
those famous pastoral reservoirs of nutritious herbage, which
have filled so many purses ; made fat so many bank accounts ;
caused so many lawsuits; engendered so much political "bile,"
and rancour; loroken so many hearts and firms in early pioneer
clays ; but which are still, for all that, the brightest gem for
their size in the mammoth crown of our Queensland. And
before proceeding any further we will briefly dwell on the
one particular advantage which Brisbane possesses over any
other city in Australia. She is environed by scattered
irregular hills, which vary fi'om 150 feet to 2,000 feet in
height, and all within a radius of fifteen miles of the General
Post Oflice ; then, secondly, she has a very wide and very
winding river ; and, thirdly, the sea in all its glory is only
BRISBANE. 243
ten miles away. Now, to any one who knows what scenery
is, these three elements of beauty will tell a tale of ever-
changing and diversified arrangements of forest, water, farm,
ocean, buildings, mountain, gardens, as the point of view is
shifted from hill to hill. You can see the beauty of Sydney
and Hobart by standing close in front of them ; but the
beauties of Brisbane (and they are far beyond what any
stranger, or casual visitor, would suppose), must be seen
from the surrounding points of view ; when so viewed, they
are unequalled by any city or town inland or seaboard in the
colonies.
The surveyor who laid out Brisbane had been to Batavia,
and wanted to make each allotment half-an-acre in this warm
climate, so as to allow of fresh air and a garden round each
building, but Sir George Gipps, the Governor of New South
Wales, who, poor man ! was but mortal and could not have
been expected to foresee that in ten years more the destiny
of Australia would be revolutionized by a gold discovery,
protested against this " waste of Her Majesty's land," and
ordered the lots to be five to the acre, put up in Brisbane
at £100 per acre upset, and £8 per acre in Ipswich. It
will be useful for local I'esidents to remember that all the
female named streets in Brisbane have lots of 66 feet front-
age by 150 feet deep, while in the male-named streets the
frontage is 74 feet by 132 feet deep. Allotments now worth
£50,000 each in Queen-street were then bought at £20 over
and over again ; £2 dej)osit paid and forfeited repeatedly,
as not worth the money. Notably those where the Joint
Stock Bank now is.
INIodern residents of Brisbane cannot realise the intense
calm and quiet which reigned in our simple village forty
years ago. So let me try to bring it home to them now.
There are several hundreds of constables to keep the peace
in Brisbane in 1892, but, in 1853 and 1854, there were six
244 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
only : one at Kangaroo Point, two at South Brisbane, the
chief (Sam. Sneycl), and two in North Brisbane, one of whom
was the lock-up keeper, Mr. A. S. Wright. Sneycl was
inspector of slaughter-houses, and went to see one of P.
INEayne's, where "Kingsholme" is now, and he blew his whistle
there, and the lockup-keeper in Queen-street heard and replied
to it. Fortitude Valley was mostly bush, and had no con-
stable, while Ipswich, Gayndah, Warwick, Maryborough,
Drayton, and Dalby were allowed one or two constables each
by the Sydney headquarters people : proud metropolitan
Brisbane revelling in a whole six of them. No doubt the
time has been when a loud whistle, aided by the wind, could
have been heard in London from St. Paul's to the Elephant
and Castle, or in Sydney from Dawe's Point to the Hay-
market. But those days have long since passed.
There was always a great difference in the style of the
departure by steamer from Sydney and Brisbane in the olden
days. The Sydney boats left at night, and friends who came
to see you off, lined the staircase and the cabin for the sake
of the light, and took their farewells standing, and in haste,
for the steamer had to call in at Newcastle and fill up with
coal. Many of the northern passengers followed her on
later ; so late that an extra three hours could be spent at
the theatre, the Brisbane boat being picked up by 1 1 o'clock
by the Newcastle one, and then they would get aboard the
Brisbane jjacket long before she got away. This coaling at
Newcastle took place regularly in the 185.5-65 era, before
the Ipswich coal had begun to assert itself properly. But,
to return. How different was the departure by steam from
Brisbane to Sydney. All daylight work, and there was
often a few hours anchorage at the bar, waiting for the tide.
None of your transition in a single short hour from perfect
repose to wretched sea-sickness as when coming out of Syd-
ney, but a jolly sit-down dinner for all hands in mild water,
OLD DAY OCEAN TRAVELLING. 2.45
lulled by the rattle of the I'udder-chaius ; the sweets and
viands and fruit lit up in the spink saloon by brilliant lamps.
All the well-dressed ladies were in full view, and for the
men New Zealand hit on with Clermont and the Condamine,
while Eathurst fraternised with Adelaide, and so on. All
Australia, as it were, welded into one under the introductory
auspices of the genial skipper, who knew everybody, of
course. Never on shore at any time, or anywhere where
such rare social meetings, such bringing together of the
representative people as were consummated in the old More-
ton Bay coasting days in the saloons of the "Yarra,"' "City of
Brisbane," " Telegraph," and other of the " primeval "
boats — passed away like the good captains who sailed them,
and the busy passengers who travelled in them.
A comic event happened after Separation. A parliamen-
tary commission, consisting of some half-dozen, or more, of
members, was appointed to travel, per rail, up country, and
report on a question that affected the interior of the colony.
I mention no names except two, and those will be borrowed
ones. There were McScotty, the astute, and Rathmoyle,
the jovial amongst the number. On the way up in the
train, and in a carriage in which the former party was not,
his character for drinking at other people's expense, and
never "shouting" himself, was freely discussed. Good old
Rathmoyle, against whom no such indictment could lie, took
the absent one's part, and contended that he might not,
perhaps, be as bad as he seemed, and his triumph was com-
plete when, at the roadside inn at " Bigge's Camp," a whole
case of champagne was ordered in by McScotty, to be
drunk on the way up. Great was the triumph of Rathmoyle
over the detractors. " There now, boys," said he, " what
did I tell ye ? Ye'll believe, now, that McScotty's not a
bad fellow." The commission were silenced, and all went
well up the country, where they duly performed their task,
246 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
and returned to Brisbane. It was noticed that McScotty,
before they got back to " Bigge's Camp," had hurried on in
advance of the rest, pleading urgent business in Brisbane.
The landlord at that place called Rathmoyle privately on
one side, and asked him in a low voice those cabalistic
words : " How about that there case of champagne, sir "? "
" What case 1 " said R. " Why, the one you gents had on
the way up. Mr. McScotty said as how it was to be booked
to you and no one else, Sir." There was no photographer
by to perpetuate the expression on poor Rathmoyle's visage
at that supreme moment, and it is a great pity, too. It
would have made a picture indeed.
A Mr. Philip Doyne Vigers was, in 1855, an official of
the New South Wales Government in Brisbane. He had
been an army lieutenant, a fact which, in early Australian
dnys, seemed to be held sufficient qualification for a man to
fill any office outside of the church. He was appointed
Superintendent of Roads for Moreton Bay, and set to work
to clear the road between Brisbane and Ipswich. But, in
place of stumping and clearing the trees off in the old
orthodox fashion, he put men on with crosscut saws to shave
the trees down at the level of the earth, and the ungrateful
bushmen, who used the road, used to complain that iii wet
weather these wooden "tables " were more slippery than a
wood pavement to a galloping horse, besides tripping him
up as the earth washed away from the edge of the stump.
The experiment was not a success, as the trees soon grew
up again, and a bit of straight road near Ipswich, got up in
this fashion, was known, long afterwards, as " Virger's
AAenue." He was, of course, known by the witty young
ladies of the period as "Poor, dear Virger," and nothing
else ; but there was nothing remarkable in that, seeing that
Peter Dalgarno Anderson, from up north, was also known
as "Poor, dear Andei'son." "P. D." was an undesirable
JOVIAL EVENINGS. 247
initial to bear in those days, I first met Vigers at Jerry
Laidley's, at Franklyn Vale, where Jerry used to whistle
the " Dewdrop " waltz, which he had newly learned, and
evidently much admired. C. F. D. Parkinson made the
fourth at whist with us in the evenings. The blacks were
still dangerous outside Brisbane then. Sylvester Diggles
and a clerk of Harris's, named Kerfoot, were in 185.5 each
with a double-barrelled gun across Breakfast Creek beyond
where Bowen Bridge now is, and up near the present Eildon
Hill, when fifty blacks came up to them, not armed with
spears, but wlio took up stones in such a threatening manner
that the guns, which liad been brought out to shoot birds
for stuffing, were levelled at the mob, who took the hint and
did not "operate." One could get dollar birds and other
rare specimens in plenty tlien all around Brisbane. Wild
ducks and those named could be got at Kingsholme and
Bowen Hills. But ^^ nous avons change toitt cela" now.
Even as have some Brisbane greybeards of the present day
who used, as squatters, in the February of 1855, to sit up
till 5 a.m. discussing politics and talking "bullock," but
■who keep much earlier hours now. I mention no names.
At this time G. C. M'Donald and John Crowder had not
started on the grand tour to Europe, but they did go not
long afterwards.
Godfrey Gammon was a thick - headed city drayman,
Hawkeye Boss was an astute and refined city gentleman.
Hawkeye had a " farm " on the Logan, which he had bought
in error for the next lot, and, sad to say, it contained fifty
acres all stones and swamp, not worth a shilling an acre.
Ha%vkeye badly wanted to "plant" this "farm," not tvith
sugar, you know, but on to some one. But he could not hit
on a plan. Godfrey Gammon owned a really nice little five-
acre bit on the south side, worth £50, but no more. Godfrey
wanted to knock out £150 for it, so he smoked a pipe, and
248 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
he did hit on a plan. Result : Enter Granmion to Hawkeye,
and loq. : " Please, sir, ain't you got a nice farm on the
Logan to sell 1 " To him Boss, fixing his eyeglass : " Very
much so, my man." G. G., in reply : " Please, sir, I want
to buy it, but I ain't got no money, l)ut I'll give you =£150
if you'll take my paddock in South Brisbane in payment."
Rapid mental debate goes on behind Boss's eyeglass, and
resolution silently carried n.eni. con. that ,£50 worth of pad-
dock will do well for 50s. worth of Logan swamp. Bargain
clenched, thei'e and then ; Gammon speaks again, " You
see, sir, I ain't no scollard, so the best plan will be for you
and me, both on us, to sign the deeds, and a three months'
bill each, and leave the deeds in the Ijank till such time as
the bill is paid." Hawkeye has no fault to find with this
idea either, and the job is duly perpetrated. Sti'ange to
relate, it fell out that Godfrey Gammon, the thick-headed
drayman, discounted Boss's bill, and left the colony a week
after. Boss met his own bill, of course, and had to take
up the levanting Gammon's P.N. as well, and so somehow
he finds himself minus £150 in cash, plus a £50 lot in South
Brisbane, and with his Logan farm still on hand. He poked
his stick savagely into the front garden bed, and muttered
something about a "plant," but whether a horticultural one
or otherwise we leave the reader to detei'mine.
The Queensland sugar industry is hardly as old as that
of New South Wales. The first experimental plantings
M^ere on the Brisbane River, and in East Moreton. The
first considerable plantation was that of the Hon. Louis
Hope, at Cle\eland, and he was succeeded by Colonel Mac-
kenzie, at Tingalpa. The latter had extraordinary difliculties
to contend with, for his land, though it had a very rich
volcanic soil, was so stony that it could never have been
ploughed, and could only be worked with the hoe. Still the
returns were good so long as the rank-growing bourbon cane,
THE EARLY SUGAR DAYS. 249
which was first introduced, remained free from disease; but
the number of small farmers in East Moreton required the
introduction of a system analogous to that of the central
mills, which are supposed to be a quite recent invention.
Mr. Day, at Oxley, and the Messrs. Grimes i^ut up mills with
a capacity far in excess of the requirements of their own
small farms, and either bought cane from their neighbours,
or crushed it for them " on halves." The latter was long
the favourite plan. Mr. Day increased Ids plant till he had
one of the largest mills with vacuum pan, and all the newest
devices for manufacture. The first attempt at co-operation
was made by the settlers on Doughboy Creek — many of
them Germans — who put up a mill to crush the cane grown
on their own farms, and entrusted its management to a Mr.
Burrell, who, like many of tlie best and most succe.ssful
Australian sugar men, was an engineer with a good clear
head, and a smattering of chemical knowledge.
The settlers on the Mary River, chiefly through the capital
and enterprise of Messrs. Tooth and Cran, early gave this
district a leading position, and kept it till the almost greater
climatic advantages of the northern districts brought them
to the front. Bundaberg and the Lower Burnett, which
now contribute so largely to Queensland's total sugar yield,
long lagged behind. In 1874 there wei^e hardly a dozen
houses in North Bundaberg, and Stewart Brothers had only
just finished their sugar-mill, the first on the Burnett. The
Rubiana Estate, with all its improvements was, in that year,
sold for about £1 an acre. What is it worth now 1
I first landed in Brisbane in February of 1854, when the
steamers always berthed near the present Parbury's wharf,
on the south side. Stanley-street of now was scrub tlien.
There were a few business hou.ses round about. There was
McCabe's wooden hotel close to the wharf, and next door
Daniel Peterson, storekeeper, held sway. Orr was the
250 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
butcher, and was located on the site of the present "Graziers."
Close by was George Appel, John Ocock, the solicitor, and
M'Conolly (pater to the late Colonial Architect), who had
a wharf. Appel was the official inspector of stock. I
remember a flock of about 300 slieep were landed affected
with scab. These were ordered to be killed, and burnt, at
once, which was done in an open allotment, in front of Orr's
place, in sight of all, females and children, who passed by.
Volunteers (to save time) were pressed into the service, and
even the butcher's clerk, a college man, had to wield a knife,
and, oh ! how he did perspire under the unwonted exertion,
so different from ordinary quill driving. And the wood to
burn such a heap of carcases was another heavy drain on
the limited resources of " our village," in order to be up to
time with it. Then there was Kent, the chemist, Toppin,
the baker, and Thomas Grenier's well-kept hostelry. These,
with J. and George Harris' store, just about filled the bill.
There was noWoolloongabba; it was "the one mile swamp;"
and a dense, sweet, wattle-scented grove extended the whole
way round what is now River-terrace. How the place has
grown during the last twenty years !
Whoever would have thought that the mere 994 feet 6
inches (be the same a little more or less) of muddy, brackish
water, which sepai'ates North from South Brisbane, marked
the boundary of two townships so closely dissimilar in all
respects ? Joined thougli they may be by a bridge, the
intervening water seems to forbid any assimilation in charac-
ter between the two places. Is it a fact that crossing water
changes character, either in long or short voyages ; or what
is if? Be this as it may, we must confess, that when we
visit the south side, we feel at once as if transported all the
way to Ipswich, or Maitland, or Balranald, or some other
bush township 1000 miles away from Queen-street.
The smaller hotels of South Brisbane were, in 1875, all
SOUTH DRISBANE. 251
of the same kind of houses you find scattered thirty miles
apart in the bush, and whose hospitable doors you arrive at
after a long, dusty, weary day's ride. Tliei'e was a fine old
work-a-day bush twang of the stockwhip and bullock yokes,
the branding iron and stock-yaixl, still left about fSouth
Brisbane, and which was totally unknown in finicking North
Brisbane, sacred more to wealthy tradesmen, German mis-
sionaries, and the "Fortitude" immigrants, the very I'ace
of people, in short, whom a " true blue " blacksoil squatter
hated (politically, of course) like poison, even as his cattle
would their sour sea grass paddocks. The little boys of
South Brisbane would (at a surprisingly tender age of
infancy) energetically and successfully track and chase for
you the active working bullock and the shy sweet milking
cow alike from their secret forest lairs to your very doors^
and would wield the resonant stockwhip, and sit "to tlie
manner born" the propping stock-horse in a way and a style
which no efieminate North Brisbane boy could attain under
double the age of the miraculously precocious South side
infant Hercules.
And then the gentle ladies too, and the healthy children
one met with in the grassy suburban streets, outside their
cottage gates, around the outskirts of South Brisbane and
Kangaroo Point. They didn't resemble the North Brisbane
ladies one bit. There was more of the garden glove, thick
veil, sunshade style about them. They were just as prettily,,
but less fashionably, attired. They were more like the ladies
and children one meets with at a comfortable 30,000 sheep
station up country. There was a primitive, shy, kindly,,
healthy look about them, and nothing in the least degree
civic or urban in their manner or appearance. Provided
always, and be it understood, that none of these remarks
be held in any way to apply to Kangaroo Point Proper,
which, in the year of which I write (1875) was more like a
'252 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES,
tiny colony from Darling Point, Sydney, than anything else.
We are speaking now rather of the sylvan Shafston, the
rural Norman's Creek, the beauteous River-terrace with its
unrivalled coup d'ceil of the great city ; we are writing now
more of grassy Coorparoo, and of the aspiring crest of lofty
Highgate Hill. And so, dear old South Brisbane, farewell
for the present. Our wish was that the days be many and
long withal, ere branch banks and shilling ordinaries, free
counter-lunches and typhoid fever, railways and cab-stands,
and all the other delightful agremens of " civilisation " in-
vade thy quiet precincts and primitive haunts. We would
fain have had thee remain as thou wert, innocent of all
" progress," for it was indeed not everywhere that one could
travel 500 miles from home, by simply crossing a short bridge
with a penny toll.
In 1854 the ferries of Brisbane were only two in number,
one kept by William Baxter, which plied to the foot of the
next street parallel to Melbourne-street, and the other, car-
ried on by Carter, from the Custom House to Kangaroo
Point. The latter was the first to treat his passengers to
an awning for the sun in the boat. Mr. John Stephen
Ferriter, R.N., was the agent for immigration then, and
lived in the cottage adjacent to the stone barracks, between
George and William - streets, wliich were afterwards the
Queensland Colonial Treasurer's office. He was somewhat
addicted to bad puns, but, otherwise, of a kind and genial
disposition. I i-emember one hot Sunday when he arrived
at St. John's Church and sat in front of me, he turned round
and remarked to me as he wiped his heated face, " Well !
if a man gets no other promotion by coming to church in this
weather, he, at all events, gets made a Knight of the Bath."
The old commissariat stores of 1822, and Pettigrew's saw
mills, were the only places besides Tom Dowse's and a small
public house on that part of the river bank in 1854, and the
SEA SICK TRAVELLERS. 253
Botanic Gardens, barring the old bunya and lebeck trees^
were in a very premature state till Walter Hill came along
in 1855 to put a new face on them. York's hollow, below
the present site of Gregory-terrace, was a pleasant glade,
full of clear water lagoons.
I remember a sea trip about this time, with A. H. Yald-
wyn and Mark Farrell, the contractor for Cape Moreton
lighthouse, as fellow passengers. I was down at once, of
course, when Cape Moreton was cleared, and the south-easter
freshened up, but they were case-hardened, and sat below
out of the rain at night and amused themselves with brandy
pawnee and by trying whose gold repeater had the most
musical bell. I think Farrell's watch had a little the best
of it. And here a word or two about that miserable affliction
of sea sickness. How that eternal "beam sea" which rolls
in on the east coast of Australia is responsible for bilious
misery ! Why, oh ! why does everything you have eaten for
the previous six months appear to rise in judgment against
you all at once, as you wrestle with your agony in the creak-
ing "state room," where your coats and "belongings" swing
mournfully from the hooks 1 Why do young people, with,
their strong, vital, biliary organs, suffer so much more than
the aged do 1 Who can tell 1 It is certain that those who
do not suffer at sea are not any longer lived (but rather the
contrary) than those who do so suffer. It is a mystery. I
remember one sturdy scion of the Yorkshire Lumleys, who,
with his ancestors, I suppose, had known neither dyspepsia
nor starvation for 800 years, and whose stomach was of cast
iron strength. I remember him in a frightful gale, whei'e
even the seasoned captain and stewards were all sick. He
came up smiling and alone at each meal ; but every one is
not so gifted as this. But, as Shakspeare says, " there is a
soul of good in all things evil, would men, observingly,.
distil it out," and so I used to construct, as I lay on my
254 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
back, rules of diet to be observed on shore based on what
experience I get in the hours of agony at sea. What to
take and what to avoid were learnt there. Oranges before
breakfast were grateful at sea. Memorandum : To continue
the habit and freshen the mouth with them on rising through
life, when on shore ; to avoid vinegar always and salads
sometimes, and so forth.
I was heartily amused, once, on board steamer, with John
Tait and his racehorses. To see a worthy old member of
Parliament, from the Maneroo district, very sea-sick, and
saying to his wife, " My dear, I can't think what ails me,
for all I had for breakfast was a plate of tinned lobsters and
a black pudding." I wonder how he could have proposed to
improve upon this 1 And, then, 'mid the giant waves that
roll off Flat Top Island, on the Queensland coast, was a
steamer which carried an objectionable fellow, the manager
of a "variety ti^oupe." He was noisy and voluble, and
bragged that he was never sea-sick in his life, as the mail
boat anchored off the island, and, to prove it, he ate an
enormous breakfast of raw onions and similar horrors. But
old "Flat Top" has a habit of " fetching 'em " when a boat
is at anchor there, which the boaster had never bargained for,
and I am proud to say that it asserted itself on this occasion,
and the onions, etc., went to the fishes in due course — for the
first time on record, no doubt, in his case.
I once tried the heroic remedy of two grains of tartar
emetic, and one scruple of ipecacuanha the night before going
to sea from Melbourne in 1851, and the precious emetic kept
me all right and hungry in Bass' Straits, in the month of
May. But the same reduced to half, only aggravated the
seasickness sailing cut of Brisbane in 1857. The best
remedy I know is physic before you go to sea. Drink sea
water as soon as you feel you are " in for it." Take a dose
after this (not before) of a chloroform and camphor mixture,
THE QUEENSLAND CLUB. 255
which any chemist can make up. Lie doivn ; eat bananas
and sponge cake, which require little chewing or digesting ;
drink soup, the salt in which keeps the stomach from con-
verting it into vinegar, as it does all drinks. And the orange
in the early morning removes the nasty taste in the mouth.
My fellow passengers on one trip were Mr. Robert Cribb,
then one of our members in the Sydney Parliament, and
Judge B. (the " genial ") was also on board, and my cabin
mate. He it was who used to go circuit out west, and, at
one township far out in the " never never " country, where
there was no church, chapel, or parson, but only a court
house, public houses, stores, etc., the Judge was asked by a
deputation to read the Anglican prayers at the court house
on the following Sunday, and on no account to omit the
prayer for rain, as there had been a twelve months' drought
out there. The Judge promised compliance, and duly officia-
ted on the Sunday, but somehow, in place of reading the
prayer for rain, he turned over the wrong leaf and substi-
tuted the " thanksgiving for rain." The subject was
mentioned to him after church. His only rejoinder was
" Look here, boys ; it's never a good plan to open a fresh
account before you've squared off the old debt : I'll be bound
now ye never thanked Providence for the last batch of rain
ye got, and ye owed for it still, and now I've squared that
bill for ye and ye can ask for more with a clear conscience!"
He left the crowd cogitating.
A gentleman (now no more) once wrote me to ask if I
could give him a list of the original or foundation members
of the Queensland Club. I was surprised at the request,
for I concluded that the early archives and books of the
club would have afforded the information required, but when
I learnt that they had all been destroyed by an accidental
fire, I told him that I knew something of the subject,
feathered from old diaries and memoranda. In the month
256 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
of December, 1859, the great success of the "North Aus-
tralian " Club in Ipswich made Brisbane people think of
starting a club here, and a preliminary meeting of those
interested was held at the office of the Hon. D. F. Roberts,
and several working sub -committees were appointed. It
was resolved to ask the newly-arrived Governor, Sir George
Bo wen, to become the patron, to name the club after the
new colony, and to secure temporary premises at once at
Mr. W. A. Brown, the sheriff's house, in Mary-street. The
first House Committee were Shepherd Smith, E. S. Elsworth
(of the Joint Stock Bank), and N. Bartley. These drafted
the rules, bought the furniture, and engaged the first staff
of servants, after which R. G. W. Herbert and J. Bramston
were added to the committee. Those members who were
willing to, and had been invited to join, came in during
January and February, 1860, and the first ballot for the
election of members was held on the 1st of March, 1860,
after which, of course, there were no more " originals."
About the j^ear 1876, and dui'ing the secretaryship of Mr.
Davidson, and before the fire, I remember seeing a list of
members, with the foundation ones printed in red in place
of black letters. The original members, of whom I am quite
certain, were R. Little, R. Douglas, J. Little, W. D. White,
D. F. Roberts, A. A. May, J. W. Jackson, E. S. Elsworth,
N. Bartley, Shepherd Smith, J. J. Galloway, R. G.W. Her-
bert, J. Bramston, and, I think, the following might also be
included : Dr. Cannan, F. E. Roberts, W. Rawlins, W.
Thornton, W. Pickering, and J. F. M'Dougall.
Full often in the long, weary flood throughout the years
of bad times does the struggling man wish for death as a-
release, when he views his haggard wife and foredoomed
children — doomed to scant education, social extinction, and
early trouble. It is the old-told story repeated every genera-
tion in Australia — a spurt of prosperity, a great money
/ ..4^~***V
Capt. John Mackay. Dr. Dorsey.
Mr. F. Bigge.
Mr. T. De Lacy Moffatt. Hon. R. Towns.
THE CRISIS OF '66. 257
scramble, a wide-spread game of " puss in the corner " — at
the end of which the wise ones who have picked up and
hugged the fleeting money shower, are all on the snug
corners, and decline to leave them ; while the poor fools
left out in the middle of the room are stuck there for ever ;
and the lessons forgotten by half the community when the
next era of money plenty comes round again.
There was a nice financial crisis in Brisbane in 1866. In
the month of July, the Bank of Queensland, without a
warning of any kind, without a run or panic, put up its
shutters one morning. True there had been a firm of bill
brokers in London, called Overend, Gurney & Co., who had
failed for nine millions just before that, and the Agra and
Masterraan's Bank, forgetting the old tx'aditions of Master-
man, Peters, Mildred & Co., had joined forces, and not
succeeded thereby. But no one expected trouble here from
it all till it came like a thunderclap, and then everyone of
course had foreseen it, only they forgot at the time to
mention it, you know. But mistrust soon spread. The
Union of Australia was the Government bank then, and
there was a weakness about Government cheques, and a run
on the bank itself, which was then in Elizal>eth-street, near
where W. Steele &■ Co. lately were. It was a comical and
suggestive sight to see the fools drawing out their sovereigns
at the front door of the bank, and rushing off with them to
the other banks, which were quietly all the time carting
more and more sovereigns in at the hack door of the Union.
The run could have been withstood for ever. But Queens-
land was in a bad way. The pace had been fast since 1862,
and there was bound to be a pull taken, and it was a real
pull and a dead halt, that lasted for six long weary years
afterwards. A land boom had sprung up in 1862. Up to
that time land had been subdi\ ided and sold in moderation
as wanted, but generally sold privately, and in this way a
258 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
good deal of Fortitude Valley and Spring Hill (so called)
had been built on. But in 1862, a ship came from Scotland
to Brisbane, called the " Helenslee," with many more. The
" Helenslee " passengers brought out £30,000 with them,
an average of £100 per passenger, and on the strength of
this and similar arrivals, a " land boom " was organised.
One enterprising firm of auctioneers found out that " there
was money " in the feat of buying suburban land wholesale
at £1 an acre, and selling it retail in 32-perch lots at £2
each (half cash, and half at three months), and " estates "
on the Enoggera ranges and elsewliere found buyers who
paid up but never claimed their land to this day. One
astute agent persuaded people that the Ipswich-road was
^lestined to be lined with shops on both sides, and a rush for
land took place thither, and he led them just as easily else-
where when that "fad" was exhausted. The town of Bowen,
at Port Denison, originally sold by the Crown in 1861, was
"boomed" in the same way about 1863 and 1864. £10
lots for £200 and so on, to the disaster and grief of buyers,
who died despairing.
A four million loan had been raised and spent partly on
railways, and the country, as usual, seemed all the poorer
in place of richer for the expenditure. The panic did not
extend in the other colonies nor England as it did in the
nineties. It was foretold, in 1867, by myself, that
Queensland would, in her vigorous growth, emerge from the
1.S66 trouble, and think it and its four million loan a flea
bite, and I hoped it would be a warning. She did so emerge,
and, in one generation, as usual, it and all its lessons had
been forgotten, and a new crash — with thirty millions in
place of four millions— with loans laughed at in London for
all Australia — with things queer and unsettled all over the
financial world — came to pass. Queensland, still in its
infancy, teeming with natural wealth, will outgrow this
HOW IT ALL HAPPENED. 259
crisis also, but it remains to be seen whether the people of
1915 will have overlooked the traditions of the previous
generation, and brought on a third cataclysm. The world
never does learn wisdom by experience, and the chances
are that collapse will then follow inflation as in 1825,
1843, and 1866. Every evil that led here and else-
where to the affair of 1866 was repeated with aggravation,
and on a larger scale, between 1884 and 1889, and the
inevitable eruption followed. I recall how in Sydney in 1877
gigantic estate auctions in allotments would last three days,
and realize £20,000 a day ; how in Brisbane in 1884 and 1885
a land agent with no auction at all would book land all day
long in his day-book privately. A.B., Dr. to CD., for land
at Fortitude Valley, Cleveland, &c., £500, £350 ; booking
and selling huge lots like the Civil Service Store books
groceries, and with no trouble of putting string round them
or sending them out in a cart, in order to earn the com-
mission on them. But it all came to an end, and no wonder.
Tlie astute land broker who started the game in 1862, held
on bravely at it for twenty-five years, till the numerous land
banks arose and snuffed out the private land shark, and then
he retired sniffing the coming financial cyclone before anyone
else did, and, with topmasts down and twenty anchors out,
each of a thousand pounds sterling weight and more, he rode
out the cyclone snugly in harbour. He is one type. Now
for another and equally (up to a certain point) successful
land broker. He, in place of converting all into cash (like
the party quoted), used to put all his profits and commissions
into land. He showed me his safe one day crammed full up
of his title deeds, all clear of lien or mortgage. " Very
good," said I ; and have you any money as well." " No,"
said he. "Then," I replied, "you are in a very unsafe
position. Everyone should have a third of his total assets
in liquid form, gold or notes. Cash at call. It is not ' idle
260 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
money,' for it helps to in'otect all the rest of his property,
and save it from loss and depreciation and forced sale to an
extent far beyond the mere loss of interest on the (so-called)
' idle money,' " He could not see it, and when the financial
cyclone did come, if he and his condition had been repre-
sented by a ship with all sail set (the sails being his parchment
deeds), and his sole small anchor out, represented by his
slender stock of cash, you will have a full idea of how the
tempest wrecked Aim, who put his faith in all land and no
money. I have spoken of the land brokers so far, let me
now dwell on private land speculators. Class No. 1 buy
and hold twenty or thirty properties at a time, make by-
sales, and secure large profits. But when the crash comes
they are "left" with heavy interest to pay, and to face
the " shrinkage " on thirty properties. Result : the absorp-
tion of all past profits. A more careful class of operatoi"s
would never buy a second piece till they had sold the first
one, and so only hold one piece at a time, with the result
that, when the crisis came, they held on to all past profits,
and only had to face the loss on one piece of land ; a much
better position than the other class held.
In order to illustrate how the 1866 crash afiected me
personally, I must go back a few years. My grandfather
was chief clerk in the Ordnance Department, and had an
oflicial residence in the Tower of London. He was born in
1779, and died in 1842, and left me something handsome in
his will. I became of age when in Australia, and the money
was sent out to me in Queensland. Mr. Robert Little pre-
pared the identification papers, and the money came out
through the Bank of New South Wales. Contrary to the
advice of all my southern friends, who looked upon Brisbane
theyn as we now should at Tongatabu as a field for land
investment. I resolved to spend it all in land. I bought
it from the Crown at Wickham-terrace, Bowen Hills, village
ONE OF ITS EFFECTS.
261
of Lutwyche, Highgate Hill, etc., besides odd lots at Rock-
hainpton, Maryborough, Toowoomba, Bowen, Cleveland, and
Tiugalpa. Before the crash of 1866, these, which had not
cost nie £l,oOO, were valued at £15,000, but after the Bank
of Queensland put the shutters up, I could not raise cost
price on it. It long since passed into other hands, and
then fetched hish values.
CHAPTER XIII.
Life by tue Sea Shore — Early Sandgate — My First Visit—
What the Wild Waves were Saying — An Appreciable
Soul— Good Company — Floods in the Brisbane — A Few
Records — The Weather and the Seasons — Drought ani>
Its Recurrence — Magnificent Queensland.
YEN in those days we in r>risl)ane had our
marine nooks ; and whetlier there was
V plenty of money or an absence of it, there
,/" was no dearth of enioyment either at home
''^' or at those places were folks used to lie
and listen to what the wild waves were
saying. Of these Brisbane summer resorts,
Sandgate may be considered the oldest.
It is true that as far back as early 1854, Brisbane ladies
used to be left at Moreton Island to recruit, being fetched
up and down by Sydney steamers in pa.ssing. And at Cleve-
land, too, was a seaside resort, and Captain Towns gave us
citizens of Brisbane a picnic thither in the steamer "Bread-
albane " in 1856. Certain of the upper families in Brisbane
(well off for buggies and horses) and their married friends
also, from the Logan, vised Cleveland for a summer sojourn,
and many a daring side-saddle dash after the cows and the
milk for breakfast and tea was made by young married
ladies (whose husbands were busy in town), and to see ■whom
EAKLY SANDGATE. 263
dance would give you no idea of their skill in the side-
saddle ; for they had learned to ride as children far away
from Brisbane, and their husbands were then at a desk in
town, and were not stockmen, and could not " run in " a
cow as their spouses could when the children needed milk.
But, for all this, Cleveland was used only by a fashionable
and select few. It was twenty-two miles from Brisbane,
and Sandgate was only twelve, and the latter soon became
the place for all hands to flock to in the summer season. I
lirst went there in September, 1858, in company with Dr.
Hobbs and the Rev. George Wight. I remember how Lieut.
Williams, of the native police, and I, threw spears over the
fork of a high gum tree near the Ein Bunpin Lagoon, in
a style which Dr. Hobbs (who had never been in the bush)
could not emulate. The population of Sandgate was then,
I should estimate, about twenty-five souls. The " hotel "
was kept by one Charles F. Davie, a consumptive little
man, who came there to try and prolong his days on
earth, by the soft sea air. Butchers and bakers and shops
there were none, so all the fare was salt beef and damper,
unless you liked " to bring a few pounds of steak with you
in your valise," which was just what we did. Bottled beer,
wine, and spirits were procurable. We slept well, and, in
the morning. Dr. Hobbs went for a bathe under the very
hibiscus tree which still gives its grateful shade at the land
end of the pier, after which we strolled to " Shornclifte,"
where Mr. Wight noticed the coal measures jutting out on
the beach. Months after this, again, the blacks from the
north end of the Bay (Bribie way) came down and made
the place uncomfortable. They bailed Tom Dowse up in a
slab hut which, fortunately for him, had no glass windows,
but only an opening to which a thick wooden shutter fitted
like a hatchway. This was spear-proof, and he escaped, and
after this Lieut. Wheeler, of the native police, cleared out
264 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
the aboriginals, who never again troubled Sandgate, except
as men and brothers, on the look out for tobacco and pennies,
and the place soon became a fine resort for children who
needed to get rid of the troublesome tail end of a whooping
cough, measles, or scarlet fever. Cabbagetree Creek was a
"teazer" to cross at high water, but, after 1861, it got a
bridge, and so that little ti'ouble was at an end, and a picnic
to Sandgate and back on the same day soon became a recog-
nised institution in Brisbane life, and the little town grew,
and stores and hotels were run up, and cottages were built
to let for the summer season furnished. But it was still
advisable to bring down bread and poultry, tkc, from time
to time, as supplies were precarious, and visitors came
unexpected. "Jordan Cottage" was built about 1860.
Loudon's about the same time. McConnel's house (now D.
L. Brown's), was put up in 1866.
There is, at Sandgate, no thunderous roar of curling
breakers thirty feet high, sounding forever by day and night
in front of your verandah, and only fifty feet away from
you. Your eye does not range over an open ocean unbroken
and undefiled by so much as a sandbank for ten thousand
miles clean away to distant Valparaiso. There are no
beautiful cone shells and tiger cowries and ear shells and
other conchological delights. In fact Sandgate is chiefly
remarkable for what is not there. There is no pier, no
yachts, no bazaars, no German band, no docks, no shipping,
no circulating libraries, no donkeys (four legged ones with
saddles on, I mean), no Ethiopian serenaders, no fishwives,
no bathing machines, no steamers, no society — and no scan-
dal, I was going to add, but I am not so sure about this last
item on my first visit.
I had been informed that mine ancient whilom and famous
hostelry, the Elephant and Shoestrings, had fallen into
decay somewhat, and that if I wanted to be comfortable I
MY FIRST VISIT. "265
must transfer my patronage to the Goat and Compasses
{strange how the old Puritan inn sign of " God encompasses
us," should have heen corrupted into the above). So to the
■" Goat and Compasses " I went. Alas ! the potatoes there
were stone cold ; but, by way of set off, the claret was very
warm ; the kidneys were raw and bloody ; but the leg of
mutton was done to a cinder, and ah me ! the Board of 'Elth
had not visited the premises very recently, I fear.
But, still, for a' that and a' that, Sandgate is not all a
•dreary waste. Oh dear no ! Albeit the male strollers on
the beach are annoyed at times by coming suddenly upon
bands of female Naiads bathing in the surf, and although
the female strollers are now and again similarly offended at
coming quite unexpectedly upon a squad of male Tritons
disporting themselves in the rollers, these things will and
must happen in primitive Sandgate, and possibly in 197.'i,
when Sandgate is very highly civilised, the people will look
back Avith interest to the simple, early, Knickerbocker days
of old Queensland. No, indeed ! Sandgate is not all a
waste. There is God's pure breeze laid on daily in full
force, and nothing to pay for it ; the quality never varies.
There is no adulteration in that, no municipal stinks com-
mingled with it. There is the murmur of the mimic waves
on the beach, soothing you to sleep all night, and seeming
to say, "Take your rest, and T will keep watch, for I never
slumber nor sleep." Many a sickly baby, and people of
larger growth, marked for disease and death in Brisbane,
have revived under the doses of ozone which they must
inhale at Sandgate whether they like it or not ; for, with
all the force of ten thousand punkahs, the fresh sea air
fattens you and is pumped into you to your great and per-
manent benefit.
In the year 1872, when, for the first time since 1858 and
1861 I stayed there, Sandgate had grown, and in the winter
266 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
I had a bad cold, caught at the time of the maddening tin
fever of the period, when the amber and black crystals of
cassiterite, of 70 per cent, purity, from the 3,000 feet High-
lands of Stanthorpe, drove Greville's Rooms and Sydney
Exchange brokers into a frenzy of delight (rivalling that of
the simultaneous Hill End gold, and Peak Downs copper
mania) and liand rubbing, at the prospective fortunes in
store for them, and all skilful operators, who could " bull "
and " bear," each in their allotted season. So, to cure this
cold, 1 hied me to the hospitable home of jolly Frank Ray-
mond, of the " Sandgate Hotel," and, over a steaming glass
of " Burnett's Old Tom," with lemon and sugar, and by a
cheerful fire, necessitated by the "shrewd" winds "of the
period," I listened then — as I often do now — through the
closed doors and windows, to " what the wild waves were
saying ; " and how they did discourse and babble to us, in
their own universal language, about the former travels of
some friends ; about the old woman who used to sell the
polished pebbles at Scarborough ; of the consumptive curate,
with his splendidly handsome and healthy sister and nurse
(in one) at Biarritz ; of the lovely oysters and the pretty
milliners at Dieppe ; of the heiress at old Bournemouth,
who was so quiet and demure, and proved to be no heiress,
after all ; of the natty fishwives of Calais ; of the " cavalry
ofticer," who was always so lucky at loo, at Brighton ; of
the plentiful mackerel on the beach at Boulogne, shot from
the hold of the fishing smacks.
Truly a prophet has no honor in his own country, and it
is not in Brisbane that Sandgate is fully appreciated — it is
too near at hand, too easily got at to be considered the luxury
it really is. Ebriosus, that least sentimental of all possible
souls, is put into a trap in Queen-street by his friends, and
they and he " tool it " down in one hour and forty minutes,
Ebriosus being fast asleep all the while, and totally unaware
AN APPRECIABLE SOUL. 267
whether he is going to South Brisbane or the "Valley," or
whether he has been one minute or one hundred minutes en
route ; and then he wakes up and finds he has exchanged
the sewer and drain essences which distinguish the Brisbane
perfumery for the pure ozone and iodine of that paradise of
all places — a sea beach. But does Ebriosus (who is but a
type of many spreeish visitants to that breezy bluff) — does
lie appreciate his good fortune ? I trow not. Sandgate is
wasted on all such. Better were it that some of the sick
poor, the feeble old and the feeble young, who never see the
ocean shore, and thousands of whom do live and die in
Brisbane without ever seeing it at all, better were it that
they who cannot afford to go there should have some of the
useless opportunities of Ebriosus and Co.
The man to appreciate Sandgate is the bushman ; the man
into whose weary soul the iron of the Condamine Plains
and the brigalow scrubs of the Dawson country has fully
entered; the man who has tasted no vegetable but "fat
hen " for seven years, who has lived on salt beef and damper
till his veins are full of land scurvy ; the man who is weary
of fresh water, its rivers and lagoons and its fishes, its reeds
and its lilies ; the man to whom sheep and cattle are, for
want of a change, a weariness and a desolation. Such a
one can appreciate that narrow zone of Paradise which lies
just where the continent and the ocean meet. Clap a piece
of thick green seaweed under his nose, and the memory,
ever sensitive to the call of the olfactory nerves, at once
conjures up visions of the far-off Mediterranean and Biscayan
shore, where the starfish lie on the sands ; and eke of those
Norman and English watering-places where bufi" slippers
and camp-stools, organ-grinders and fishing smacks, lovely
girls and noisy children, fill up the motley but delightful
scene. Nothing on earth equals the place where land
and sea meet. How dreary is it five hundred miles up
*268 AUSTRALIAN PIONEKRS AND REMINISCENCES.
country, among the sandy plains, and how equally dreary
is it five hundred miles out at sea among the endless
tumbling hillocks of indigo blue which fill up the monoto-
nous scene. But any part of the sea within five miles
of a bold shore, or vice versa, how exquisite it is ! I
hardly know which is preferable, to live seven years, say,
on Peak Downs, and then take a couple of months at Manly
Beach, with its wild violets in the rocky dells, its purple
and white sea-flowers in the rock pools of salt water, and
its snorting saline south -easters, with the glass seldom rising
over 70 degrees, and the horizon enlivened with as many
passing steamers and ships as if one were in the English
Channel, and oh ! the glory, on a dark stormy night, when
the curtained blackness has just swallosved up the pitching
and rolling steaiier northward and outward bound for dear
old Brisbane, to see, after a spell of ebon darkness, the moon
rise, and send a stream of silver drops dancing along the
floor of the sea in a bee line from east to west, and lighting
up the scene where all was Erebus a minute before. I am
undecided as to whether all this is preferable to the sensa-
tion experienced when after a hundred days buffeting with
tlie waves since leaving the Lizard and Ushant lights behind,
and after getting " knocked into a cocked hat " amongst
the seething mountains of water which rage where the
Mozambique Channel and the Agulhas bank currents meet
in dire conflict off" the Cape of Storms — when, after all this,
the crippled barque comes within smelling range of the
aromatic hay-fields of Tasmania, and her sea-weary passen-
gers sniff" the new sylvan odours of the South-west Cape, and
tremble at the black Mewstone, a giant to its English name-
sake, and which sits on the sea like a lion in basalt as big
as Gibraltar, and defies the angry waves which clothe its
blackness in white foam ever and anon. Yes, it is truly a
toss-up which is the better, to smell the sea after too much
THE ADVANTAGES OF COMPANY. 269
of the land, or the land after too much of the sea.
Sandgate is still a place of delight for the soul that can
appreciate Nature, and is in no way fallen off (albeit some-
what Cockneyfied now) from the good old days when we had
to follow the marked tree line to it, carry our own provisions
down, and tliink ourselves lucky if no aboriginal spear or
boomerang interrupted the al fresco meal by the sea ; which
Avas too often the case before the energetic Sicilian who
afterwards officered the native police thei'e, taught the
darkies better manners and customs.
But Sandgate is nothing without good company. For
my part I like that of my cousins Lucy and Laura down
there ; Lucy is a half-golden, half-silver blonde of 1 9 ; Laura,
a tall, fair brunette of 17; Lucy wears gloves No. 6, and
weighs 9 stone ; Laura wears 6|, and she actually weighs
1 1 stone, despite her slender wrists and ankles, for she is of
that noble, vital type of womanhood which sculptors of the
first rank assign to Eve — the brooding and grandly mys-
terious mother of all the nations. Blondes are my usual
weakness ; yet am I powerfully affected by the large, dark,
deep eyes of my Laura and her clear, firm pi'ofile ; and all
the little men, of course, are mad after her, for she is devoid
of conceit and sentiment alike. What a Juno she will be
in ten years time, I vow. Where do they live, do you say 1
Why, on their father's station, a hundred miles, more or
less, west or so of Sandgate ; at a spot where the western
escarpment of the Australian Cordillera melts into swelling-
downs of rich herbage — a place where (so to speak) lagoons
of treeless grass are environed by shores of timberland which
jut out in picturesque capes, points, and promontories, into
the said dry lagoons of grass, and enclose snug little bays
of verdure — a place where the eye and ear are refreshed
with the sight and the sound of waters falling ovtr rocks,
and where, at day-dawn, the early carol of the magpie rises
270 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
in melodious chorus to heaven, at the same time as the
wholesome white wood smoke from the station chimneys
mingles upward and lazily with the pure ether overhead ;
for the breeze which sweeps the wattle-scented forest later
in the day, as yet is not. Yes, the name of the station is
Wyndomel, and it lies just under the shadow of Kunghi,
that monarch mountain Avhich marks the junction of the
Main Range, and one which crosses it from east to west —
a tine, venerable old swell of the cloud-capt breed, in whose
heavily-timbered sides you could easily get lost, yet whose
beneficent peak catches all the thunder clouds on a sultry
day, and sends them down in sliowers of cooling water and
ozone on the parched people of the tableland and the lower
country alike, and it then smiles like a benevolent giant, as
the setting sun gilds its head, and seems to say, " There, see
how I've refreshed you all ; I'm not half so grim as I look ! "
Yes, that is where Lucy and Laura live when they are at
home, and every lamb and calf that is born there is uncon-
sciously adding a half-sovereign or a couple of pound notes
to the heritage of these two charming girls. Upon my
word, I have a great mind to write an Australian novel
about them ; for I don't mean to marry either of them,
they being my cousins, and their father having £15,000
a-year. But, bless my life ! how discursive I am. I have
got I'ight clear away from Sandgate altogether, and by the
same powers, I had almost lost sight of Brisbane.
There was considerable controversy in 1887 as to whether
the flood in Brisbane of that year exceeded those of 1864
and 1870. The weight of evidence showed the 1887 one,
I think, to have been more severe than any since 1841.
No one flood rises proportionately high at all parts of the
river, and hence these disputes. In 1841 the Brisbane River,
from its heads above Colinton and Taromeo, was in full
flood, as was also its great afiluent, the Stanley Creek, while
FLOODS IN THE BRISBANE. 271
at the same time the Bremer, with its tributai'ies, Purga
and Warrill Creeks, was in high flood also, and the rivers
dammed each other back, and thus the whole basin from the
Main Range on the west to the Mary Range on the south,
was inundated. The water rose 70ft. at Ipswich, and as
there were only 4ft. at low tide on the Brisbane River Bar
at that time, you may be sure the water was well kept back,
and no such flood was again seen until the 1893 trouble.
In the floods of 1857, 1863, 1864, and 1870, the water rose
45ft. to 50ft. in Ipswich. As the Brisbane River above the
junction was not in flood to any extent, the highest point
reached in Brisbane in any of these was 6ft. 8in. above spring
tide, and it was marked on the post at the South Brisbane
ferry, the post that carried the punt rope. Since 1870, of
course the river bar has much changed, and there is a better
''get away" for the water. The 1887 flood is said to have
risen 50ft. in Ipswich, which is 5ft. above 1864 and 1870.
The flood of May, 1857, was the outcome of six weeks' long
continued rather than heavy rain. That of 1863 was a
February autumn one, 15'14in. of rain fell in sixteen days,
electricity negative. August, 1860, gave us 12-39in. of rain,
but no flood. February, 1863, gave OwOin. between the 13th
and 17th of the month. In March, 1864, an equinoctial gale
brought the flood. The night of the 18th was terrific. A
hurricane blew. The river rose 50ft. in twelve hours at
Ipswich. A heavy lifeboat was blown over like a hat for
200 yards on the beach at Moreton Island. Steamer col-
lisions in the river Avere plentiful. Boats rowed in Mary-
street opposite Perkins's brewery in 1863 and J 864. But
no rain above 7in. in twenty-four hours fell this time. South-
east gales brought all these floods. The deluge of March,
1870, consisted of 24'25in. of rain in a little over four days,
8-20in. being the maximum fall in twelve hours. Mary-
borough got 14in. in twenty -four hours at the same time.
'ItZ AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
On the 9th March the flood was over Bowen Bridge, and
breast high at that place and the Waterloo Hotel ; a perfect
typhoon blew from the east all the night of the 8th March,
1870, in Brisbane. The swamps had not been much built
on then, and there was no " manure depot," and it was not
so bad as 1887, on the whole. I pass over the minor floods
of 1873, '75, and '79 as of little consequence, except that
they killed the seafish in the river, and made an unpleasant
smell. Eighteen inches of rain really fell on 21st January,
1887. It may fairly be inferred that, spite of the 24ft. of
water at the Bar, such a concentrated fall of rain must have
caused a worse flood than any of those quoted, except 1841 ;
and when such a one as that year's flood comes again, as it
assuredly will do some day, people who live on the hills will
be better ofl" than the swamp dwellers of our subui'bs. The
Brisbane River, after all, except for the matchless depth of
water on its so-called " bar," looks small by the Fitzroy and
Burdekin rivers. The Brisbane drains a country but little
larger than Yorkshire. It is a " soon up, soon down " river
in flood time. The Fitzroy and Burdekin together drain a
country the size of France or Germany, and a flood in them
rises slowly and keeps up for weeks. We have no record
of the rainfall that led to the 1841 flood, but, as we have
seen, a flood may come on in twenty-four hours, or be six
weeks in brewing, and in the former case little warning is
given. The severity of the floods can be safely reckoned
by the severity of the droughts, of which we have had such
a terrible example in 1883-86. And talking of floods sug-
gests the weather.
The principle of " compensation," of which Ralph Waldo
Emerson writes so ably, obtains universally in nature. This
system of material double entry, by which every debit has,
so to speak, its credit, can be traced far and wide in the
physical world, and even fuither. Gamblers, for instance,
c4
i.:
THE WEATHER. 273
with cards and dice will tell you of an ebb and tiow in luck,
of certain occult laws which govern the succession of what
are called chances, and this tendency to action and reaction
is observable wherever we turn our attention.
It is of this irresistible propensity in nature to oscillation
that I would now speak more particularly, as it affects our
weather and our seasons ; and here is apparent the great
contrast between the European and the Australian climates.
In Europe the tendency to action and reaction tinds its
outlet in cycles of abnormally hot and of abnormally cold
seasons. We hear of brandy frozen in cellars ; of frost
biting into the solid earth to the depth of many feet ; and
anon we hear of tropical thunderstorms in the latitude of
50 degrees, and of mosquitoes, where such things ought not
to be. But in Europe, nevertheless, there is no startling
variation in the rainfall, even in the course of a century.
All these things are totally different in Australia. Nature
in this country exhibits her tendency to the ebb and flow
system by cycles of abnormally wet and abnormally dry
years, while the average heat of one year varies but little
from that of another, at any time ; and there are no start-
ling contrasts. Thus it follows that the average yearly
rainfall of Europe is steady, while the average yearly heat
and cold vary much in the course of fifty years ; and at the
same time in Australia the average temperature is steady,
while the rainfall varies greatly. Such is the marked and
great conti'ast which the two places exhibit as regards
weather and climate.
The power of this great law of nature in Australia is
exemplified by the fact that the monsoon itself which brings
rain in the Indian Ocean, and generally floods Northern
Australia in autumn, has sometimes to pass over the latter
place very lightly. The first three months of the year 1871
were a notable instance of this. There was little or no wet
s
'274 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
season that year in the Gulf country. The 1875 season
was a very dry one ; clouds formed, it is true, but there was
lacking that peculiar elective condition, or quality, in the
upper air, which alone can turn clouds into rain, and there
they hung, tantalising us with false hopes. Sometimes this
electric quality or condition was in excess, and then we had
in a clear sky and without a moment's warning a little black
is formed directly overhead, and apparently out of nothing,
and coming down like a bucket of water ; all over in five
minutes, and the sky clear again. There was plenty of this
weather in the first three months of 1872.
The 1875 dry season somewhat resembled that of 1862,
and still more so that of 1854. The dry spring of 1862-63
was followed by a sickly wet autumn, and the most unhealthy
weather ever known in Brisbane was in February, 1863.
Rain water, caught in clean open vessels, putrified the next
day, and all in the open air. The hills about Brisbane were
covered with new arrivals camped in tents. The rain and
heat were incessant, and the mortality great, the sea breeze
being almost entirely absent. December, 1854, mai'ked the
end of seven months' dry weather. Great was the scarcity
of water on the Darling Downs. The stations of Westbrook
and "Western Creek were in especial straits just then. Well
sinking and dams were not yet in vogue, and many an angry
squatter wished aloud that some of "Dr. Lang's 'agricultur-
ists' were fai'ming up there just then." The heat was
insufferable. It ranged in Warwick and Drayton between
105 degrees and 108 degrees in the shade for a whole fort-
night. At Franklyn A^ale, below the Downs, it was 112
degrees, while on the Lower Condamine 117, 119, and 122
degrees were the quotations in the shade. But February,
1855, brought refreshing showers, and it was all over. The
most unendurable months in Brisbane since regular observa-
tions have been taken, were February, 1863, and December,
THE DROUGHT SEASON. 2(0
1869 ; the average heat of the latter month was the same
as that of Calcutta in the hottest summer month. They
have punkahs, however, and stone palaces in Calcutta ; but
in Brisbane we have just half an inch of hardwood only
Vjetween us and the heat. At present I have spoken only
of minor droughts. I come now to the very serious question
of the great and terrible ones which about foiu- times in
each century visit Australia.
Captain Flinders, cruising about the coasts of Australia
at the commencement of the present century, found, every-
where, the bush on fire, grass burnt and withered, and every
sign of great and long-continued drought. In 1828 and
1829 came the drought of the century, with water at four-
pence a gallon in Sydney — the great Murrumbidgee River
dried up, and the fish dead in the dry mud of it ; and yet
this river, in ordinary seasons, overflows like the Nile, and
is ten miles across it (as I have found in a canoe). Then
in 1849 and 1850 came the terrible drought, which culmina-
ted in "Black Thursday," in February, 1851, when burnt
leaves were blown across Bass' Straits by the fury of that
north wind, which amalgamated into one huge blaze the
previously scattered bush tires of "Port Phillip." The rain
came, and the drought broke up in May, 1851, when the
streets of Melbourne became so many mud-banks in no time.
The question for us now to consider is this : will the great
periodic droughts, extending over eighteen months or two
years at a time, which has already happened three times in
a century, and at apparent intervals of twenty-five years,
more or less ; will it come again to us, and how soon 'i I
don't think it is on us yet, but I think it is only a year or
two away from us — that is to say, if past experience be any
guide, and if any dependence can be placed on statistics.
It is a serious matter to contemplate ; we can store water
but we cannot store grass. The sheep and cattle of 1875
276 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
will outnumber those of 1825 and 1850 by an amount so vast
as to render the prospect all the more terrible. Much can be
done in agriculture by irrigation. I once lived at a station on
an "ana" branch of the Murrumbidgee River. Tlie country
was flat for hundreds of miles round, and it seldom rained
there, for there were no mountains to catch the clouds, but we
had a garden on the river Ijank, and had vegetables and fruit
all the year round by means of a pump made of four pieces of
wood and a long hose of osnaburgh. Twenty minutes of pump-
ing every morning sent the water flowing from the top bed in
the garden, which was about three feet above the water level,
zigzagging its way back to the river, and saturating all the beds
thoroughly as it runs backwards and forwards, but always
towards the river, and this was all done by white people, as
there were no Chinamen there in 1853.
But this relates only to fruit and vegetables. The ques
tion of food for stock is another and a terrible one, but
that phase of the subject need not be discussed here. In the
year 1864 I read before the Philosophical Society of Queens-
land a paper on Meteorology, which had the eflfect of causing
the establishment of observing stations throughout the colony.
I remarked then that cycles of about ten years of unusually
wet and dry seasons, alternately, appeared to be about the
rule in Australia. The year 1854: was unusually dry, 1864
was unusually wet, 1874 again was dry, and 1884 wet ; while
in 1894 we had a mixture — floods in the north and drought
in the west, — thus, each decade appears to mark the com-
mencement or end of a more than ordinary wet or dry epoch.
Magnificent Queenslaiad ! great storehouse of gifts and
riches, how shall I best describe thee 1 Where even begin,
wlien so many sterling claims to notice offer all at once ?
Let me first soar, and then, borne on wings calmly over
thee, and so look down on thy domain, and, as I behold, I
perforce must own that if I were compelled to sum up thy
greatness in one word, that one magic word would have to
QUEENSLAND. 277
be "Basalt" — the basalt of the columned cliffs. The
volcanic work which, under various names and disguises,
" chums " with the gold, and is a guarantee for the plentiful
presence thereof, and other rich metals galore. And the
dear old basalt, the mother of the agate, is not confined to
the minerals. Oh ! dear no. Behold it now decomposed on
the swelling western plains, and giving birth to the match-
less grasses (world-challengers) which fatten the beeves
over a space like unto France and Germany combined. Let
us mount higher and take a more comprehensive view. Here
lies the champion colony spread out below us, and, 'mid
ravine and tableland, water course and mountain chain,
dark crag and green savannah, let us mark the countless
citadels scattered broadcast where Nature has her treasures
of gold locked up — Charters Towers and the Cape River,
Ravenswood and the Gilbert, Mount Morgan and Clermont,
Oympie and Kilkivan, Croydon and the Etheridge — enough !
I will not fill the book, as I could with all the rocky gold
fortresses that are dotted o'er the land, or speak of the
granites of Herberton, saturated with tin oxide ; the scrubs
of Bundaberg and Mackay ; the Johnston, the Burdekin,
and more, boiling over and effervescing with bright sugar
crystals, or the unregarded and too plentiful coal and copper.
See, below us, Buckland's Tableland and Lake Salvator,
memories of Sir Thomas Mitchell, the veteran Peninsula
man and explorer. Note all the exquisite show scenery in
parts where pastoral pursuits " don't pay," and the turfed
flats where millions of quadrupeds fatten and make money
for their owners. And regarding, too, the race of men
which a land like this produces, the hardy, free overlander,
the hard, dogged miner, what matters it whether they be
bold natives of the Victorian Wimmera, or the Valley of
the Hunter, or the broad - loined sons of Staffordshire "?
Queensland can toughen and weld them all into sons of her
own if they only will live the life that she calls them to.
CHAPTER XIV.
TiiK Islands— At Tahiti — EixMeo — Pai'iete — A Mouxtain* Climb
— A Heartv Welcome — Ladroxe Island Won'ders —
Among the Lonely Islets — Racatu — Hachin — Bora Boru
— Gems of the South Pacific — The Marquesas— Female
Types — The International Patrol — The Mountains of
Raiatea — Fear Dispelled— Aripah's Farewell —A Story.
HAVE read of the view-commanding; heights
of Bellenden-Ker, its clear waters and cas-
cades, its cool grassy dells, and it has
reminded me of a similar mountain climb of
mine in exactly the same latitude as Bartle
y^^Vj^y^y^jA Frere and the famous Bellenden, but far
< ^^^^^''-^.•iwflv tn thft past of tl
away to the east of them, in a very different
longtitude, beyond the fever-smitten islands,
^P whence we draw our supplies of hideous,
woolly, not to say sometimes murderous kanakas, beyond
even the distant and handsomer Samoan's group of islets ;
in fact about as far east as you can get, without losing Poly-
nesia altogether. I allude to Tahiti, whose men had the form
and beauty of Greek gods, as we see them sculptured in
marble, and w4iose women, with luminous eyes (like amber
black fire) and faultless forms, made one regret that the
feminine discipline and culture of Europe had never been
engrafted on their many innate good qualities.
AT TAHITI. 279
Oti' the island of Eimeo, near Tahiti, I had climbed to
the topgallant crosstrees of our 'Frisco-bound barque, the
"Eudora," to see its conical, spiky peaks the better, and,
when I came down, my example was followed by young
Wales, the son of the police-magistrate at Morven, Tas-
mania ; and two of the sailors (not liking this intrusion on
their domain) followed him up the rigging, with ropeyarns
round their necks wherewith to bind, till he paid a forfeit,
this too aspiring youth ; but he was clear grit ; " for, coolly
waiting till "Johnny Flatfloot " was within a few inches of
him, Wales slid like lightning down the topgallant backstay
to the deck, ruining his pants with tar and barking his
palms a bit, but triumphant, as a native Australian should
be, and leaving his would-be captors lamenting and laughed
at by all hands. The boy had " been to sea " before.
Anon came an outrigger canoe alongside from the shore
of Eimeo, bringing some young men, who, as they sat on
our bulwarks, had the profiles and heads of Antinous and
Achilles, and an air of unpretentious and unconscious dignity
and manners only met with in the higher class of European
youth. They bartered with us their beautiful mother-of-
pearl fisiihooks for any trifle we could spare, and their noble
heads, bound with fillet and a feather, disappeared over the
side as we sailed on towards Otaheite and its harbour of
Papiete, where we were to water ; for, be it known to the
reader, eighty of us in the " Eudora," calnn, steerage, and
crew alike, had been on a ration of l|-pint of fresh water
per diem for three weeks in the month of February, south
of the line, mark you, as well as in and near the tropic, and
you need only to try this to know what it is like. There
was, of course, no tea, no soup, etc., for the cook would ha\e
boiled it all away; no "'grog," either, for this would have
caused thirst, but salt-water .soap sufficed us for baths. We
had plenty of champagne and bottled beer, yet it was melan-
280 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
choly at night for us bachelors to hear the thirsty babes and
children through the saloon bulkheads talk in their sleep
and murmur, " Drint o' water, ma." My plan was to mix
a little limejuice and sherry with the water and drink once
in twenty -four hours. Nobody died ; some suffered and
some did not. I was amongst the latter, for I never even
carried a pannikin in my thousands of miles of solitary bush
rides in Queensland summer ; but, if some of us had not
" subscribed " a daily gill apiece of our scanty allowance,
to help the " hot coppers " of the brandy drinkers on board,
some of them might have gone under. We started from
Hobart short of water, intending to fill up at New Zealand,
but deceived, like the captain of St. Paul's ship, by a spank-
ing fair wind, we sailed past it for Tahiti, and were caught,
half-way, with a ceaseless north-easter, and were kept at
sea till we got down to lOin. of water in the last tank, a
tight fit for eighty people, as we entered the harbour of
Papiete, in Otaheite, a semicircular liay in the shore like a
bow, the string of which was a coral reef with one opening
in it, enclosing a harbour smooth as the docks of London,
which I had left not long before, and now found myself in
an atmosphere and temperature like the Palm-house at Kew.
Papiete was not the dull place one would have expected
forty years ago in a remote Pacific Island ; the French had
just taken Tahiti by force from the nativ^es, and there had
been a fight on a large scale, and under a lofty monument,
duly inscribed, reposed forty - one men and officers of
"L'Uranie" frigate who had fallen in the conflict, quite as
disastrous as the German loss in Samoa. The middle-aged
Queen, called by the family and titular name of " Pomare,"
had a husband much younger and handsomer than herself —
she 40, he 30 years old. She dressed in a black satin cassock,
and the girls of Tahiti in the same, only the material was
coloured print, and with a flower in each ear for an earring,
THE ISLANDS.
281
and some sweet-scented native oil on their straight black
hair. Never walking far, never carrying burdens, always
swimming or canoeing, they had diminutive hands and feet
to match ; not so some old chiefs, who were pointed out to
me as having remembered Captain Cook's visit in their
early childhood, and their white heads and their legs and
feet swollen to the size and shape of a log of wood with
elephantiasis, certainly gave them as they sat in a row an
air of great antiquity. They appear to be a longer-lived race
than the Sandwich Islanders, as well as far handsomer.
The kings of Hawaii follow each other in quick succession,
as well as the queens. I met one of the latter, Emma Rooke,
a slender creole-looking half-caste girl of 14, in 1850. I
sold to her father. Dr. Rooke, of Honolulu, a frame house,
ex "Eudora," and on calling to collect the doubloons she
officiated for him, as he was out. She was a granddaughter
of John Young, and married the fourth Kamehameha.
She became the plump Queen Emma, who was made so much
of by Queen Victoria in England in 1865-66, and who died,
untimely, like most Hawaiians of rank, in 1885, the death
of their only child having killed her husband with grief
many years before.
But to return to Tahiti. It was, as I said before, any-
thing but dull. The military bands and the men-of-war's
bands together discoursed evening music on the beach such
as neither the Melboui-ne nor the Sydney, of those days,
could match. The massive foreyard of the frigate "Sybille,"
lifty-two guns, lay on the shore like a fallen gum-tree, a
well-kept tropical-looking hotel on the sea strand dispensed
claret, with a divine, rough bouquet, and we drank it out
of coffee-cups ; also tomatoes, cunningly fried with vinegar
and eschalots ; bananas, worked up into all sorts of artful
pastry ; and execrable, thin, pale, sour, bottled beer from
Paisley, though the parfait amour and other liqueurs were
282 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND KEMINISCKNCES.
quite up to the mark — -for a Polynesian island so far from
all civilisation. Queen Poniare's 70ft. carved canoe was
sheltered from the sun under a thatched roof, on a bed of
bamboo leaves, and here, for the first time in life, I heard
the romantic JEolmn hum of the tropical mosquito, sugges-
tive of verandah courtship by starlight at 80deg., what
time the land breeze would cut off the heads of every roller
that moaned on the coral reef which bounds the harbour,
and blew the spray out to sea again.
We had to stop several days to get in all the water we
required with primitive appliances, so an excursion was
planned for three of us — namely, Wales, Turner (a surveyor,
who afterwards settled at Oaku), and myself, to ascend the-
mountain stronghold of the island, the last defence from
which the natives had been driven, and only then because
they deemed it inaccessible, and therefore impregnable, and
not necessary to be guarded ; but they had to deal with the
active Zouave breed of biped cats, who, five years later,
scaled the Malakoff at Sebastopol, a Niagara of irrepressible
red breeches ; and the Taliiti warriors (who had never heard
of such things as ladders) found the enemy, armed to the
teeth, suddenly in the midst of their garrison, and all was
over. It was to this mountain fastness, nearly 4,000ft.
above the sea, that we started to climb. Five times we had
to ford a beautiful little pellucid river, 60ft. wide and 5ft.
deep, and didn't I get a fine sore throat next day from tlie
wetting, but our doctor (a brother of Eusebius Lloyd, of
St. Bartholomew's) soon sent it flying with a gargle of dilute
sulphuric acid. Lovely was the scenery and fertile the soil,
as we began the ascent. Cones of rock, 1,000ft. high, rich
in lichens and veiled with flowery creepers, towered by the
side of our route. The wild ginger threw out its gnarled
tubers under our feet ; grand timber trees, solid and liaid
as ebony, made up the forest, in company with the bread-
A HEARTY WKLCOME, 2H:?
fruit, guava (which scented the air), nianimee apple, papaw,
oranges, lemons, bananas, tkc. It will be noted that, unlike
the forest of Australia, nearly everything that grew here
was food of some sort, and, with the easily-caught fish of
the country, made up a bill-of-fare that caused anything like
hunting or labour to be as out of fashion as hunger or thirst
or want were.
We were made heartily welcome by the Gaelic lieutenant,
who, with 100 soldiers, kept the '• Pah Fattawah," as the
fastness was called, and some excellent cognac, with pure
cascade water, made Turner and myself recollect our French,,
and find out all the history of the capture of the place. Full
in view of the officers' quarters, was the loveliest waterfall
imaginable, not a broken one or in a mountain gully hidden'
by scrub, and only visible here and there, but a sheer fall
of 700ft., over a wide, clean, perpendicular white wall of rock
of double that in width ; and poised high in air above it
hovered, clear out against the sky, a beautiful bird, called,
I think, the "frigate" bird. Anyway it has one, and only
one, long amber feather in its tail ; the feather from which
the priceless State cloak of the Kings of Hawaii has been,
for 200 years a making, at the rate of one bird, one feather,
and no more. This wall of rock bounded our view in that
direction, and the tumbling water became mere mist and
spray ere it i-eached the foot of the fall. But it was a sight
never to be forgotten ; and we dwelt on it as long as we
could compatible with the necessity of being back to town
before "gunfire" and on board our ship again, for matters-
were strict, and martial law was not quite in abeyance, and
the institution known in "nigger" countries as the "cala-
boose" (synonym for watchhouse) was open for the reception
of belated travellers who might be away from their proper
domicile at night without a passport.
The magnificent and massive ruins in the Ladrone Islands.
"284 AUSTRALIAN PIONKERS AND REMINISCENCES.
•open up a new and still stranger phase of the mystery of
the mammoth trilithon and other marvels of savage places
where engineering is unknown. The huge images and
■carvings on Easter Island, near the west coast of South
America, are not so wonderful, being, most likely, on land
that was once continental. The vast ruined temples and
carvings of Guatemala and Central America are exactly like
those of Hindustan in character, and totally dissimilar to
those of Egypt and Asia Minor, at Baalbec, Luxor, Palmyra,
and Nineveh. The mystery of these last is somewliat
■modified by the fact of their having had some sort of a
•contemporary papyrus literature, some form of stone inscrip-
tions open to interpretation, left behind them. But where
is the literature (if any ever existed) of ancient Guatemala 1
older far, in its buildings, than Moses and Homer and their
■days. Where is the literary legacy of the Ladrones and
those other islands to the north - east of us, where the
gigantic cross stone rests high on two upright monsters, and
Avhere, apparently, no human hands nor machinery could
ever have placed its enormous size and weight. Could it
have been done by people who could engineer and reckon
but not read nor write 1 But the mystery of the Ladrones
far surpasses all this. Here we have not only the gigantic
work in masonry, but not a trace of any similar kind of
work is to be found elsewhere on the island, whence it
might have been quarried. This brings us face to face (on
the theory of land submergment) with the carriage of massive
stones over an impossible distance by land or water, in short,
we confront a mii'acle, a paradox, which overstrains the
intellect and faculty of comprehension, even as did the
awful hypnotism, or will - power, of the Incarnate Deity,
eighteen centuries back, in the presence of diseased human
organisms, which obeyed their Creator's command, and
became sound in a moment ; and even these miracles present
LADRONE ISLAND WONDERS. 285'
no stronger shock of the " possible-impossible " to the mere
reasoning faculty than do those wonders of the Ladrone
Island. The evidence of the mere senses seem still to be as-
incredible, as when the Infinite will-power hypnotises matter
and gives it mind, and then hypnotises mind and gives to it
more than one can speak of. For words are all powerless
to paint some ideas, and, great as these last may be, they
cannot even go near to grasping the unlimited, which has
neither size, weight, dimensions, distance, nor any other
mere vulgar material attribute. Yet, in the pride of intel-
lect, one does not like to recoil baffled from a solution of
this lithic mystery. The stone in the Ladrones ruins is
described as being like basalt, like granite, and unlike that of
any on the other island. Now, a "rule of thumb" engineer
would account for the trilithon in the " recruiting " islands
to the north-east of us by supposing that the inhabitants
(past or present) " up ended " the two upright stones, and
then filled in an easy gradient mound of earth to the top of
them, and, with rollers, placed the top stone in position
afterwards removing the earth again ; but this solution of
the riddle would not apply in the case of the Ladrone Island
ruins, where the pillars and walls were of an unknown and
non-local stone. I once went down the Thames on an
excursion to Rochester, and explored the ruins of the castle
I found a cement, full of flints, said to have been the work
of the Romans, and which time had rendered as hard as
any granite. May there not once have been a " concrete "
or artificial stone, the secret of which is as lost as the art
of carving a ruby, or burning colours into glass, but which
was known to former inhabitants of these islands, and which
concrete could be put up piecemeal with wooden moulds
while it was soft, and then hardened gradually till it became
what it now is, one solid piece of work apparently % Failing
some such theory as this, we are still face to face with a
■286 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND RKMINISCENCES.
miracle. And a few words on miracles. When a man
catches cold, the College of Physicians, being mere mortals,
discourse learnedly of capillaries and congestion, and counter
irritants, and then mechanical remedies, which only touch the
outside of the matter, and half cures it, Nature herself doing
the rest ; while an omniscient and Creative Being sees the
other and subtle conditions (all unseen of man) both in their
natural structure itself and in the ailmentand disorder thereof,
which conditions underlie and are behind, and which cause
the outward signs seen by the mortal College of Physicians,
and He, the Maker, can wend also, and, with His hypnotism,
calls on those occult conditions, and they respond and obey
and return to health as invisibly and irresistibly as they fell
out of it, and because we cannot see the unseen and unsee-
able work behind the scenes it is called by us, and very
naturally, a "miracle."
It is not generally considered a solitary jDlace, and yet it
is really the most far removed and isolated one upon the
face of the earth. I allude to the Sandwich Islands, where
lofty Hawaii, smaller than Yorkshire, but tall as the Alps,
and snug Oahu, with its Honolulu harbour, and a few more
clustered islets, lie alone. The sole oasis in a wilderness of
ocean, stretching eastward till Mexico, nearly 4,000 miles
off, is the first land : looking nortliward till naught but
Kamschatka, 5,000 miles away, breaks the ocean's monotony ;
westward, the far ofi' shores of China, 6,000 miles distant,
alone bar the ship's progress over the water, while, to the
south, an expanse of 8,000 miles of sea reaches to the Pole
itself. There is no continental spot so lonely as this, no
oasis in such a desert of size, solitary as are none of the
beautiful islets in the Southern Pacific. These last all
nestle, more or less closely and sociably, to each other a
species of extended Venice with the beauties of nature as
a good substitute for those of art. From exquisite Tahiti,
AMONG ■HIE LOXKLY ISLETS. 287
and moored down to the low coi'al " atolls " where some
honest stalwart son of the sea from the waterside tarry,
Wapping of cockney Sydney, has taken up his permanent
abode with the cocoa-nuts, and proved conclusively that the
male Caucasian race mates well with the rounded soft-eyed
houris of the eastern cyclades, whose kindly salutation is
Yurana taku eti ; and, if you doubt it, behold his strapping
sons and winsome irresistible creole daughters, all healthy,
happy, simple-hearted workers. How suggestive are some
of the white man's names for some of the lonely islets in
the .South Pacitic, to say nothing of the beauty and euphony
of the native appellations. Pylstaart Island, for instance.
Here we have the old Dutch Vanderdecken revealed. He
was amongst the early maritime explorers of the Southern
Pacific, one of the first whites to see the dusky syrens of
the palm groves and coral reefs, and " Starbuck," too !
What need to trace this name beyond Nantucket on the
thrifty north-east states of Uncle Sam. English it may
have been originally, or G-erman corrupted with English,
but it proves now' that the enterprising whaler, of Maine
and Massachusetts, went and poked his nose out west from
Valparaiso, and the " sparm wjiale on the coast of Pe-ru "
till he found the magnetic nymphs who knew the oil of the
cocoanut better than that of the whale.
Maddalena and Dominica, in the Marquesas group, are
as lovely amongst tlie islands of the world as are Milan and
Freiburg amongst its cathedrals ; while Hackim and Bora
Boru, in the Society group, give us glimpses of Eden in
their matchless scenic beauty beyond the dreams of the
India drug smoker ; and there is health with it all, too.
Yes, and romance and association to Byron's " Island," the
romantic tale of the Bounty. You are far from baleful
Asia and India, far east and away from them and their
diseases, those fearful clianges that are rung upon the end-
288 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
less types of disordered livers, born of heat, hunger, and
malaria. You lind these in Java and New Guinea, and all
the other tropical groups which hail old Asia for a parent
and neighbour, and peculiar to whom as are crocodiles,
serpents, and minerals, all quite unknown in our eastern
dream as lands of bliss ; for measles will sweep as a scourge
over Fiji and the New Hebrides, and a disease which those
best able to judge class as cholera, is not unknown. In
some of the " atoll " islands which cluster near the equator
and lie to the north and east of Australia, there is at times
a scarcity of water, and a small and unwholesome choice of
food. Stunted cocoa nuts, drought smitten, is not the diet
to ward ofi' depressing disease, and when the poor islanders
are taken to sea in sliips, to sail to where they can be
properly fed, the Destroyer is at work early amongst them.
They grasp their bellies where the pain is, and fail to come
on deck ; putrid blood bursts from the mouth, aggravated
with frightful purging. Sometimes even this is surpassed,
and you see a " boy " bringing you coftee at breakfast, and
you miss him at dinner at 1 j^.m. Search for him at 4,
and tind him already cold, with the froth at his lips, Ijehind a
coil of rope. At 4 p.m., overboard they go, half-a-dozen a-day.
It would take twelve doctors, not one, to keep the live hundred
of them alive to the extent of even 60 per cent. And oh !
the suggestive smell that pervades the ship ; it would break
down the pluck of a buccaneer. Not even the deadly
dysenteries of China are " in the same street " with this nigger
cholera ; for you can't keep men in full stamina without
appropriate diet. We grieve over the death of a neighbour,
and go over all the details of the illness, but who notes the
pain and the death of these poor islanders, each one of whom
suffers his full martyrdom alone and uncomforted.
As regards the relative beauties of Racatu, Hachin, Bora
Boru, and Eimio, all I can say is that the world does not
GEMS OP THE PACIFIC. 289
hold the equal of them elsewhere, but if you ask me to
decide which amongst them bears the palm, I can only tell
you that you might as well set me the task of awarding the
prize to the best essay in the various Epistles of Saul, of
Tarsus, each one a glorious gem in itself, but all differing
like choice flowers in a bouquet.
The South Pacific Islands round Tahiti are, as a rule, not
large enough to exhibit extensive bays, but one exception
is at Marchard Island, or Nukubera, discovered by Captain
Ingraham, of Boston, Massachusetts, about 1790, and lying
to the north of the main Marquesas group, first made known
by Mendana, the Spaniard, 200 years before that. There
iV a real bay in Nukubera, and it makes a grand harbour,
too. Like Rio Janeiro, it has conical islands in it, and two
of them, higher than St. Peter's at Rome, guard the
entrance, and then it spreads out both ways and forms a
nearly circular basin for anchorage, from which rises a green
amphitheatre, sloping upwards gently at first, but rising*
anon into steeper acclivities, the green at the water's edge
shading into deep blue Avhere the serrated summit outline
cuts the sky and hems in the view all round, at a height of
nearly four thousand feet. But this is only a part of the
picture. Profound and picturesque gorges radiate from the
bay and pierce up to the dim sunnnits of the cordon range.
Each glen with its own particular tumbling white torrent
appearing and disappearing 'mid the green, till it at last
soberly enters the little harbour, which has about nine miles
of circular frontage. As an amphitheatre, it is about the
biggest and most beautiful in the South Pacific, and like a
Titanic coliseum in scenery. Creeping and hanging vines and
other plants covering, as well as they can, the rocky furrows
and stony wrinkles, all on an enormous scale, which time
seems to have worn on the aged face of dame nature just
here. And the natives are no mild vegetarians ; they have
T
290 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
not solved the problem of how to live solely on fruits of the
earth, as the Hindoos have. A keen lust for that which once
had blood in it, be it fish, fowl, or animal, rules their appetite.
I do them the justice to think that cannibalism first arose
through the vile habit of human sacrifices, originated by
the dominant priestly caste, long before the early sandal-
wood hunting days of the South Pacific. A pro^ws of which
our sailors 200 years ago used to sail from the locality of the
present London Docks to the Marquesas for sandal wood.
Isles, with the mystic spell,
Tonga ! Tabu !
Lands, where pride rose — and fell,
Vauna ! Levu !
Haunts of some vanished race
Lacking in God-born grace,
Stone now —their only trace,
Vengeance their due.
In speculating as to the origin of these Pacific Islands,
several matters strike us : there are no fossil remains, and no
animal or aqueous survivors of the pre- Adamite era such as
the ceratodus or ornithorhynchus of Australia ; there are no
dangerous beasts, birds, or reptiles of any kind. Paradise
itself was not more free from them nor more abounding in
edible fruits by the wayside ; the present inhabitants are not
of the highest intellectual type, such as the arithmetical and
mathematical Arabs and Jews of old, though they retain many
of their traditions and customs ; but, in gentle courtesy and
homely domestic common sense, as applied to political, re-
ligious, and social daily life, they are verysimple and"human,"
even if a little common-place, and not aspiring ; still less do
the present people belong to the past and vanished race who
could "up end" stones of 15x12x8 and place an 18ft. one
across the top of them and mortice it in ; Polynesia, I think,
must V>e geologically young, far behind Australia, butethno-
logically the oldest place in the World and inhabited perhaps
A REGION OF SCENIC WONDERS. 291
before any other spot was, and by a race who could carve and
hew stone, but of whose graving tools no trace can now be
found ; the mystic, potent, awful "Tabu" being the only frag-
mentary spirit and symbol now remaining of the wisdom and
the interdiction of those whom the whirlwind of Time hath
swept away for ever from this planet.
Tahiti and Marquesas ! A region of scenic wonders
indeed ! Large gorges ; perpendicular ravines — all of giant
dimensions ; lilac and amber peaks, wliose jagged points
pierce the sky and are tiecked and cut with tinted cloud-
rings, hardly one round-shouldered hill visible anywhere,
but gothic peaks of bright hues against a darker back-
ground ; mysterious abysses, sunlit cones, superb and
awe-aspiring, though made up of basalt and other homely
geologic products of extinct volcanic warriors of bygone
igneous ages, and now almost clothed in green vegetation
beautifully contrasted with a peep of sterile rock here and
there ; and inhabited by a race of women who are beautiful
and don't know it, who are not vain, not "dressy," talk no
scandal and envy no one ; for they have not known the
temptation of the white woman who is vain, and no wonder
for white men make her so, thusly : — A beautiful girl, not
vain, is approached by a common-place man who seeks to at-
tract her attention and interest. Well! there is nothing in
him to do that, so the animal resorts to strategem and begins
to tell her that her hands, feet, ears, eyes, hair, ligure, bonnet,
mantle, dress, gloves, what not, are perfection ; loads her
with fulsome flattery in order that he may leave on her mind
that pleasant impression of himself which his looks, his wit,
or his manliness never would or could do ; and so it comes
to pass that he .spoils and mars a fresh bit of Nature's work,
in order, forsooth ! that he may feed in forbidden pastures,
and she becomes vain from that day forth, who never was so
before he intruded on the scene.
292 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
The girls at the island, like Tahiti where there is a crowds
and where people see hundreds of others and fresh faces
every day, are staid to a certain extent in their demeanour,
but this is no criterion for some of the lonely groups and
solitary islets where ever new and varying types of exquisite
female loveliness are to be met with. One would -wonder
where the variety came from : for the Tahitian differs from
the Marquesan, and both again vary from the Samoan, the
Prumoto, and the Chain Island girl ; in one group, the eyes
and lashes surpass the world, in another the sweet expres-
sion of the features, in another the littleness of the ears,
hands, and feet, in another the superb development and
symmetry of the limbs and body ; but, in the solitary places
where they rarely see a white man in the pride of his youth,
they are not what Mrs. Grundy calls "modest." Why should
they be 1 or rather, how can they be 1 Did they ever read
a book *? Is the word "propriety," or its equivalent, met
with in their language ; did even Mother Eve ever hear it
spoken, or read of it in a novel 1 ; and what does Lukeeha,
of the lonely "atoll" know more than Eve did. Lukeeha is
kind, she would give you all, or any of her poor barbaric
ornaments, would feed you, nurse you, worship you, for she
never saw a Avhite young man before and knows nothing of
him, or his civilization, except that he is a new ideal for her,
and she is no more backward or retiring in his presence than
would be a London dehiitmite in the presence of a diamond
necklace, that could be got for the asking and handling.
These islands form the largest "beat" in the world for
police supervision. Scattered cruisers froni England and
France, from Germany and the United States, patrol the
groups the whole way from Espiritu Santo to Nukahiva
more or less, and do what they can where all the fleets afloat
could not do what is wanted ; and the Pacific paradises are
mostly a "law to themselves" ; the long pennants cannot fly
THE INTERNATIONAL PATROL. 293
everywhere, and even then "international" law is a clumsy
weapon at Vjest, in the strange and lovely unannexed islets,
so pirates and buccaneers of the "handsome Hayes'" type
do much as they please, in the way of fraud, "kidnap,"
violence, and cajolery ; long before his day, the fun went on,
and women's beauty and men's labours, and men's property,
the fruit of labour, were preyed upon as freely as in the
lawless and unpatrolled land ocean of Central Africa.
The art of committing sham suicide is not, as is generally
supposed, one of quite modern invention. True, we do hear
nowadays of young men who have failed in some praise-
worthy attempt to select beforehand the winner, say, of the
Caulfield Cup, and who "borrowed " some money from the till
over it, which they could not replace before its absence was
found out, and wlio disappeared from view, leaving no trace
beyond a suit of clothes on the cliffs or sea-beach, and a
loaded revolver with two chambers recently discharged.
The finder is placed in a blissful state of uncertainty as to
whether the absentee had fired tlie two bullets into his head
and then swam out and drowned himself, or whether he first
of all tried to drown himself and then came back and used
the revolver, winding up with a lead sinker and an emptied
air belt half-a-mile out at sea, uncharitable and cynical
folks, of course, asserting that no suicide at all had taken
place. But these are mere modern episodes ; the art itself
was invented hundreds of years ago at Raiatea, a large and
beautiful island of the Society Group, near Tahiti, in the
dark ages, tracing back to the year 1400 or so, when the
great " Hiro " was reputed to be the founder of the Pacific
race, it was customary for the priests to select, from time
to time, victims for human sacrifice from amongst the poorer
and less influential islanders, who were not acquainted with
the secret signs, and, so to speak, the freemasonry which
the chiefs used in talking to each other. The victim was
294 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
never warned ; he was only silently selected and missed by
his friends. The stealthy blow with a stone axe from behind
did the work in a moment, and no one except the priests
knew who was to be the next one. The result was that
these poor islanders (to use a bootmakers' phrase) got " full"
about this.
Now Raiatea is a curious and lovely island, an earthly
Paradise in climate, beauty, and scenery. It has the inevi-
table beach all round it, narrow in places where the
mountains come down to the sea, wide and stretching back
into fertile plains where the mountains recede from the
ocean ; the usual gloi'ious coral shallows environ it, of course,
and on their edge ever beats the curling and musically boom-
ing surf, the upper crystal drops of which are blown out to
sea in an opposite direction to the advancing waves by the
land breeze, and look like lancers' pennons when they
" charge " to windward.
And then these mountains of Raiatea ! How shall I
describe them 1 Their sides are verdant, but unscaleable,
clothed with dense jungle and rich vegetation, cleft with
narrow deep ravines at their outlying edges, down which
the cascades pour 1000 feet at a leap from the terraces and
tablelands above. High above all this lies the inhabited
but inaccessible "downs" of the interior, where a race
lives who never visit nor are visited by the dwellers in the
plains below. Wild fowl, fish, and fruit are plentiful on
this upper country, and before describing it further, I will
relate how it came to be inhabited. Smoke and fires had
been seen on it with telescopes, and from passing ships, so
the existence of human beings was a certainty, and this is
how they originally got there. One poor fellow who had lost
some of his near and dear relatives by the priests in the old
idolatrous days before Mendana, the Spaniard, in 1594,
burst into the eastern Pacific. This one poor fellow plotted
THE MOUNTAIXS OP KAIATEA. 295
with the survivors of his family tribe a happ)' idea. They
took their well - known canoes to a distant point of the
island, and there so damaged them that they appeared to
have been wrecked on the coral, and for themselves they
hied them to a spot high up on the mountains, where some
overhanging lianas or vines gave access upwards by a route
where no foot could find a resting place.
Travelling a great distance along the narrow ledge of a
lofty eminence, a sharp corner is turned, leading into a ver-
dant fertile hollow, buttressed all round by sheer and awful
abysses. In this dell grew a profusion of the mountain
plantain and other fruits, and a herbal bark of great use in
the mild fevers and skin eruptions peculiar to the islands.
The only outlets to this hollow dell were the ledge already
spoken of and some hanging vines which led up a precipice
to safe, clear, and widely extending ground above. Thither
came the priest d reading fugitives, climbed the vines, drew
them up, and were never seen again on the island below.
Their canoes were found, and they themselves were sup-
posed to have been drowned at sea, and the priests had to
travel further for victims. And this is the first case on
record of " sham " suicide, of which modern Australia is
but a feeble imitation. The race which sprung up on these
tablelands of Eden grew to be the most expert climbers
amongst the human race. The eight or ten families who
started this new departure throve and multiplied on the
wide-spread land of plenty, which tiiey thus found in those
glorious undulating mountains of happinness. But the
vines being once drawn up, no one could follow them, while
they could, if they liked, make secret excursions below.
Their language, of course, remained the same as that of the
people below, but they held no communication with them,
and till the early missionaries brought telescopes with them
no unassisted human eye could scan the dim recesses, cloud,
"296 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
peaks, and shoulders of this divine spot, or view the living
people who there flitted about and were happy, though as
invisible to those below as the inhabitants of the planet
Mars are to us on the earth. Only on two occasions up to
the date of George the Fourth's death were any of those
mountain people captured. On the first occasion, two child-
ren and one old man were surprised in the dell alluded to.
The children screamed, and, like monkeys, soon climbed
beyond reach of capture. No lowlander could follow them.
The old man in escaping slipped and fell, and fatally injured
himself. He survived his capture a week, and told how liis
forefathers had fled at the season when the one fruit, which
was always then eaten with human sacrifices, was known to
be nearly ripe, a season always fatal to the poor islander, as
the green pea season is to ducks.
Mr. Robert Bourne, of the Congregational Union, went
out as missionary to the Tahiti and Society Group about the
latter years of King George the Third's life. His children
were some of them Ijorn at Raiatea. He was, twenty years
later, in the drapery business in Pitt-street, Sydney, and,
forty years later again, he was secretary to the Board of
Public Education in Brisbane. He was the grandfather of
the Registrar of Titles for Queensland, Mr. J. Orton Bourne,
and of Mr. Robert Orton Bourne, Superintendent of Tele-
graphs for the same colony ; and his son, George Bourne,
was Landsborough's colleague in that brave dash across the
Australian continent, in 1862. But to return to the Rev.
Robert Bourne. He, stationed as a missionary at Raiatea,
was, previous to 1822, told of this legend of the captive wild
mountaineer, and he l)urned with a warm desire to get at
the rest of this interesting community, and to let them know
that the murderous bugbear of centuries was at an end.
But all in vain. His most active scouts could never climb
the ravine slopes that led to the central fastness to beyond
FEAR DISPELLED. v 297
a certain height, where rock walls grew absolutely perpen-
dicular, and the sides of the gullies were much the same.
The central upper Paradise was guarded like the gardens of
the Hesperides. But after some years, and when his two
elder children, a boy (Robert) and a girl (afterwards Mrs.
Chisholm) were out walking with him at a new home which
ho had made in a far corner of the island, his wife also being
with them, he was startled to see a crowd of natives, three
of whom held a captive by the hair, which flowed wildly
about, and long, like a womans'. The poor terrified creature
was a man from the upper regions; the foam on his lips,
and exhausted partly from struggling and partly from
illness ; for he had been pounced upon while gathering some
of the fever herb which grew only on the lands below the
summit centre of the island. He stood trembling and with
dilated eyes, as frightened as any wild beast captured by
men. His terror was not decreased by the sight of the
white gentleman and lady, another startling wonder for
him. " Do not kill me ! Do not give me to the priests ! "
he said ; and Mr. Bourne was able to reply to him in the
same language. " There are no priests here now, and the
false gods have left Raiatea for ever, my friend, so have no
more fear." The captive could not grasp the meaning of
the words, but the kind looks of Mrs. Bourne and the two
little white children spoke more reassuringly than any words
could. He had no terror of them, but he gazed in such
agony at Pomare, who now came up with more natives, that
Mr. Bourne, as the only way to soothe him, took him away
from them and to his own home for the night. When a few
days had elapsed he grew calmer, but the slightest incident
would renew his fears and entreaties for mercy. Not a
native could come, even to look at him, without his dreading
to be murdered. The little white boy and girl helped their
father to teach the captive his letters and to spell short
298 AUSTRALIAN PIONEKRS AND REMINISCENCES.
words when his fears had subsided, and had it been possible
to keep him in sight of them and them only, all would have
been well, for Mr. Bourne devoted all his time to the poor
wild man. A couple of weeks thus rolled away, and the
wild " Orson " seemed to be tame at last. But the fact that
Mr. Bourne and his new home were on a remote part of the
island, and away from the populated place where whale-
ships and white men called in, prevented the poor "myall"
from realising by the sight of chapels, etc., that "old things
had passed away." On the fifteenth day, Mr. Bourne asked
him to come out for a walk with Mrs. Bourne and the two
children (this was in 1822). He refused at first, Vjut the
two youngsters seizing his hands playfully, dragged him out.
All went well till Aripali (this was the man's name) in the
stroll along the beach, the only path then in that dense
jungle, came in sight at once both of the dear mountains
on one side, and of a mob of natives on the other. The
crowd drew nearer, and Aripah grew wild in the eyes again.
Mr. Bourne waved to them to go back, but curiosity pressed
them on. In another moment Aripah broke from Mr.
Bourne, who held him by the hand, and fled like a deer to
his beloved mountain, pursued by the crowd of shouting
natives, who might have spared themselves the trouble, for
he was fleeter than they, and was half way up the mountain
before they got even to the foot of it, where its abrupt and
unknown clifis forbade all further pursuit by them. Mr.
and Mrs. Bourne exchanged saddened glances as the cries
of the hunting pack died away in the forest, afraid alike of
what might happen, and also that in any case they would
never see Aripah again. He had a thirty yards' start, when
fear overcame confidence, and he increased it at every stride.
Bye and bye a great shout arose, and Mr. Bourne, going
out to see the cause, beheld, on the sharp angle of a precipice
far above them, Aripah looking down a farewell at him, and
aripah's farewell. 299'
even then he had to send for his telescope to be sure it was
his lost one. Aripah sat there for thirty minutes looking
at him, and then got up and vanished — and for ever as far
as the Rev. R. Bourne was concerned, for up to the year
1832, when he finally left Raiatea, neither Aripah nor one
of his mates was seen l)y those below.
The genesis of the South and East Pacific Islands is
shrouded in unfathomal>le impenetrable mystery, alike as to
their geologicial inception and their ethnological settlement.
Serving for us to recall the lines —
\Vith what an awful woiM-revolvhig power
Were first th' unwielilly planets launched along
Th' illimitable void — tliere to remain
Amid the lapse of many thousand years.
Which oft hath mvept the toilinij race of men.
And all their boasted momiments aioay.
This great ocean, sighted first as regards the earth and
by white men — from the mountains on the Isthmus of
Darien, which Balbon climbed in 1513, and sighted in 1520
by Magelhan from the other end of the continent that ter-
minates in Cape Horn, contains islands peopled by a race
that puzzles the wisest to trace back. And the more their
customs, their features, and monuments are studied, the less
able are the enquirers to discover what led to present con-
ditions. There was a gentle and handsome female race kept
in bondage by a fetish called the " tabu," and not allowed
the fi-eedom and privileges due to their sex. There were
habits and usages, analagous to those of the ancient Jews,
Arabs, and Phu3nicians, there was a cast of countenance of
the Gi'eek and Caucasian tyj^e, and a mythology of the
same. Stone monuments, statues, hieroglyphs, and massive
terraces, walls, and trilithons, I'ecalling Central America,.
and the dimmest, darkest ages of the old world.
300 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Yes, the women may well be good-tempered in Tahiti.
They never have to go, at 11 p.m. on Saturday niglit, to
pull a drunken husband out of the tavern, and with a baby
on one arm, and him on the other, as occasionally happens
in the white man's land, both north and south of the equator.
These be matters that shorten the temper and sharpen the
tongue of the white girl. They have never happened in
Tahiti since time began. Temperance people sometimes
foolishly try to reckon up the " drink bill " of the British
Empire by the wholesale money that is paid for the liquor.
Fudge ! that does not represent a tithe of the real bill.
John Stumps, of Australia, drinks half-a-crown's worth of
alcohol, and becomes thereby fearfully and wonderfully
drunk for forty-eight hours. He stands at the bar of the
public-house and reiterates the wearisome statement that
he, and he alone, is the best (sanguinary) shearer, bootmaker,
saddler (what does it matter?) in the (gory) colony. He
keeps this up till 3 a.m., and, on the third day, is "seedy,
and can't work for four days more ; losing 10s. a day for
six days, or ,£3 in all in mere money. So that the Is. 3d.
ivholesale price of the liquor that " knocked him out," and
wliich is all that the temperance statisticians take note of
or put in their " drink bill " needs to be multiplied fifty
times in order to show even the inere dollars lost for ever.
While, as for John Stumps and his broken health, wretched
family, ruined soul and prospects, you can't possibly put
them into practical numerals at all ; such things are classified
otherwise and elsewhere. Come, now, I will tell you a
story a fropos of all this. There was, at the east end of
London, a brilliant gin palace, with cut glasses and candel-
abra and gas jets, with pork pies on the counter, and ham
sandwiches, and stalwart barmen to serve the liquor, and
ready to eject noisy customers. A young man (whom I
afterwards knew in Australia) was one of these. His father
A STORY. 301
managed a brewery, and he had a rich uncle, a retired-
publican, who wanted him to marry a pretty girl who would
have £5,000 on her wedding day, and to start in hotel
business for himself with her money, and what his uncle
would give him. He was to meet her at the " Licensed
Victuallers' Annual Ball." She was a partner (I can tell
you) worth dancing with — with her splendid black hair
and eyes, her costly golden jewellery, her rich bronze silk
dress, her bronze silk hose, and her neat bronze kid pumps,
and with 5,000 sovereigns and a ready-made business. She
was a bait indeed for any young man to snap at. Well, one
night some time before the ball, was cold and wintry, and
our hero was serving as usual behind the bar, when a girl
child of ten years entered for a jug of beer. The snow was
falling outside "underneath the gaslight glitter," and the
poor little waif had nothing on her- head or lier feet, and
I am bound to say, very little on lier )>ody The snowflakes
as she stood at the counter dripped from her head and melted
betv<een her Ijosom and the ragged garment which alone
covered it that bleak night. Yet her parents had the money
to send her for beer, poor, half-frozen starveling ! The sight
was too much for our barman ; he liad a heart inside him.
He savv the child's hungry eye and sliivering form, and he
forced half a pork pie and some ham sandwiches on her and.
made her eat them, paying for them himself. He made an
excuse to go home, and swore to himself, that he would
never serve a glass of liquor again, or take wages, or make
profit that arose from, or was in any way connected witli
such sights and awful realities, as that poor little snow-
bathed victim. He went to the ball, though, and danced
with Miss Bronze Pumps, inhaled the warm perfume of her
tresses, admired her splendid physique, and could have had
lier, and competence, too, for the asking, for he was clever,,
and could sing and act ; but, somehow, between him and her
302 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
would come that half-frozen, fragile, suow-dabbled child of
half her age, and he could not make money or enjoy ease in
that way, so he angered his uncle, threw up his situation,
and went to sea as steward of an emigrant ship. There
was everything to tempt his animal nature and love of
•comfort in this ballroom heiress and the ready-made business,
but he could not somehow " get away from " this child-
Lazarus " at his gate," nor enjoy in peace money derived
from the misery and wrongs of such pitiful helpless innocents.
But there is none of this in Tahiti, you know. For one
thing, of course it never snows there.
i
[EDITOR'S NOTE.]
" Most of tlie following occasional papers were found amo^ng
the late Mr. Bartley's manuscripts. They are all moi-e or less
important, and are certainly interesting, since neai'ly the
whole of them treat with eithei- Australian men or matterti.
For that reason, and with a belief that the author intended
to give them permanent value, they are included in this his
last work."
Editor.
Samoan Types.
MEMORIAL LINES TO HARRY KENDALL.
HERE Idumea's myrtled hills frown dark on Judah's
land,
Whose summit crags seem castle towers to many a
pilgrim band,
Where Aroer, by Arnon's stream, 'neath lofty Pisgah's
springs,
On far-off Harosheth doth gaze, beyond the Gentile
kings,
Where Midian's dromedaries bore their load to
Ephrah's Vale
With Bozrah's gay-striped garniture, like Afric's lateen sail.
Where Chaldee sages kept the stars on parchment scroll engrossed,
( When Guatemala's hoary fanes crowned Costa Rican coast)
There, singers in the days of old, heard Nature's stirring call.
And r)avid, Deborah, enrapt bade music's cadence fall.
And hath not this our Austral land, a pre-historic claim ?
The old world's elder brother it, in everything but name
Ceratodus* — -long since a part of Britain's marble stone —
8wims our free waters here to-day strong living flesh and bone.
And other forms, Pre-Adamite, attest it still the same
Since long before on earth man bore a spelt or spoken name.
And should we not our singer have to chant in measured rhymes
The weird and wond'rous sights that dawn on wand'rers in these
climes ?
Mazy gulfs of amber glory, winding eastward to the sea,
When the yellow sunrise goldens all the mist that wraps the lea.
On Govett's Leap, the stately Clarence, Miki Falls and Yulgilbar
Hanging Rock and steep Koreelah, mountain, river near and far.
Sandstone bluff, basaltic pillar, granite dyke, deep waterwom
Dolomite and golden quartz reef, wattle bloom and waving corn.
Forest trees that dwarf Cathedral's spire and bid it hide its head t
(Though we own no sculptured cloisters, urning earth's illustrious
dead).
Kendall sang these, Kendall knew them, gave them each a name
and form,
And ( like 'Peter' ) sang them from a true heart deep and warm
Yearned, too, for that mystic Eden, above the amber sunsets hie
When they nightly fade in turquoise from a gold and purple sky.
Sang he once : but, never more upon our ear his note shall fall.
Higher theme, on earth unspoken, now upon his soul doth call —
Thankful may we be he left us plenteous music of his soul —
Thankful— for such men as he was ne'er on earth yet found their goal.
* The Burnett Salmon. t Dandenong- trees 471ft. high.
U
TUmiNG ON THE BARRIER REEF.
N 1873, the manager of the Lake's Creek Meat
Works, on the Fitzroy River, a little below Rock-
hampton, learned that the true green turtle was to
T^ be found in considerable numbers on the reefs and
islands of the Great Barrier Reef. It occurred to
him that it might be worth his while to tin and ex-
port turtle as well as beef and mutton. At the time an old
fisherman from the Hebrides was in Rockhampton with a
little 25-ton ketch which he owned. Donald was on the look
out for profitable employment for himself and his craft. He
had lately been out of luck, and it is more than likely that
it was he who had told the meat works people about the
turtle, for he knew more about the coast from the Burnett
to Broadsound than perhaps any other living man.
But the ketch wanted new gear, and a number of things,
and Donald just then had no money, so he was not sorry
when, one fine day, as he was strolling along Quay-street,
he was aware, as the old romances have it, of an old
acquaintance who had shared in some of his former ventures,
approaching from the opposite direction.
"D' ye want a share in a good thing, Mr. Smith 1" said
Donald.
"What is it, Donald, and how muchi" asked the other.
TURTLING ON THE BARRIER REEF. 307
" Turtle from the Barrier, and I want £20 and yourself,"
said Donald.
"What will it return, and how many are in it?"
"i>10 a week, at any rate, and our own two selves, if
you'll chance it. It'll be a third for the hooker, and a third
apiece for ourselves."
" That'll do ; come to the bank and I'll give you your
twenty notes."
Donald soon laid in his supplies, and next morning the
ketch dropped down the river to Lake's Creek. The mana-
ger was on the wharf, and when he understood that Donald
was starting for the Barrier, he gave his final instructions :
"£1 per cwt., but nothing under Icwt., but as heavy as you
like above that." Then came the weary beat down stream
against an easterly wind. The tide served, however, but
it was far into the afternoon when they passed Mud Island,
and opened the wide expanse of Keppel Bay. It was nearly
dark when the light of Cape Capricorn was seen ahead, as
the vessel came round on the port tack. Then the land
breeze piped up, and they were soon bowling along for Mast-
head Island and the Bunker Group. It was now necessary
to proceed Avitli caution, as the reefs were near, and daylight
was necessary to enable them to thread their way through
the narrow and intricate channels. Masthead Island was
dimly visible, and they lay to, to wait for morning.
The ketch was carefully guided to her anchorage between
the Masthead Reef and the island. Donald was at the
tiller, and Smith in the bows keeping a sharp look-out for
the sharp points and jagged edges of coral which could be
plainly seen beneath the surface of the clear water. The
island is nothing more than a sandy " cay " (as they are
called in the West Indies) an islet of sand overlying the
coral, and thinly covered with brush^'ood. It is surrounded
by reefs, with here and there a cap of sand where the coral
308 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
has grown to the level of the water, forming the nuclei for
other islets, which will grow in time till they rival, or even
excel, the patriarch of the little group. All are haunted by
vast numbers of sea-birds, and there is actually fresh water
to be found on Masthead Island, and that was an important
consideration on all accounts. Many turtle were swimming
about, but they were troublesome and difficult to catch in
the water, and, in any case, they must not be harpooned.
The ketch was securely moored head and stern, with lines
from each bow and each quarter, to ensure that she should
not swing on to any of the jagged points of coral projecting
around. The dingy was got over the side ; lines, poles, and
other appliances were put into her, the main boom topped,
and the standing block of a tackle to hoist the turtle on
board. Eating and sleeping filled up the rest of the day,
for the turtles were to be caught at night, when they came
on shore to bury their eggs in the sand.
At nightfall the dingy took on shore " all hands and the
cook " to catch turtle. As the two men were lying quietly
behind a bush, from which they had a view of nearly a mile
of the beach, they noticed two turtles come ashore and push
their unwieldy bulk along the sand inland with their flip-
pers. Then another pair landed a little way off, and a third
pair further off. There was a vast deal of scuffling while
the night's quota of eggs was being buried. Then the two
men rushed on the nearest pair of turtles. The larger was
seized as he was trying to shuffle off to the water. The long
poles were pushed under his body, and while he snapped
viciously, turning his snake-like head from side to side, with
a sudden heave he was turned over on his broad back, and
left to gnash his teeth in impotent rage, while his captors
hurried off to attend to the others. Only one more prize
was made that night, but it was no easy task to get the
monsters into the dingy, and, with the weight of the two
TURTLING ON THE BARRIER REEF, 309
men, her gunwale was brought down nearly level with the
water. It was a relief when the clingy was fairly brought
alongside the ketch, and Donald said it was like hoisting
half a bullock on board to lift either turtle, but both were
soon safe in the hold.
Next day a respectable supply of the turtles' eggs was
disinterred and cooked for breakfast. They made a welcome
addition to the larder. Altogether the expedition had turned
out better than was expected. The two turtle taken the
night before were each of them well over 3cwt. The
cautious Donald put down their total weight at 7cwt. at
least, and Smith, judging by the strain on his arms when
hoisting them in, said that was full Icwt. too little.
The ketch was, in the afternoon, shifted to a new berth
between two of the smaller islets of the group, and that
night they got three very fine turtles on one of the islets,
and the following night they turned four on the other ; but
that came near ending all their good fortune, for the smallest
of the captives was also the most lively, and while he was
on his back he was busy reaching round with his head, in
search of something whereon to try his teeth. He eventu-
ally succeeded in getting a good grip on Donald's leg, and
he held on with such excellent good will that his jaws had to be
prized open with a marline-spike, to make him let go his hold.
Then there was the surgery — tea ring up old shirts for band-
ages, and nothing would please Donald till a chew of tobacco
had been placed on each tooth-mark on his leg. But he would
not keep still, and Smith, who really knew a little about such
matters, began to get alarmed at the vagaries of his obstrep-
erous patient. However, as it turned out, there was nothing
very seriously the matter. Donald had a stiff leg, and
occasionally it gave him twinges that made him explode with
blasphemy in that picturesque half-Scandinavian dialect used
by the fisher-folk of Scotland's western isles.
310 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
There was plenty of work to do as the ketch filled up
with turtle. It was necessary to give the captives plentiful
sluicings with salt water, and provide them with wet pillows
— swabs, or gunny bags, or anything that came handy. The
weather was not the best imaginable. It grew squally,
and the wiiid piped up from the eastward in a way that
threatened unpleasantness; but it was good for business,
nevertheless. In the first place, the turtle seemed to get
moie plentiful in the smooth water among the reefs and
islets, and they were not small ones, either. But it was
not by any means easy always to get them on board in the
wind and rain, and with the spray sometimes flying in sheets
over the outer encircling reef, which kept the little channels
within the group smooth and still; but the gusts of wind
would every now and then catch the masts of the little ketch
where she lay moored between the two islets, and make her
strain and tug at the chains that held her, till the kedges
threatened to come home, and her bottom became perilously
near becoming acquainted with the sharp points and knife-
like edges of the coral rocks, that were visible under the
clear water — almost as clearly visible, except for refraction,
as if they had been in air. It is a wonderful thing, this
transparency of the tropic seas, which, in many cases, would
be almost unnavigable without it.
In less than a fortnight there were twenty-nine large
turtles in the hold of the little ketch, and both Donald and
Smith began to find it inconveniently crowded. There was
little room to pass between the shelly monsters as they lay
in close ranks on the dunnage in the boat's bottom. It was
high time to get the kedges on board, and to lift the anchor;
but it was no easy task for two men to work even so small
a vessel through that intricate labyrinth of coral, and before
they were clear of the outer reef a squall had caught the
corner of the mizzen, which Donald had hoisted in the hope
TURTLING ON THE BARRIER REEF. 311
that it would give her head a cant through the opening. In
an instant the ketch's stern swung round too far, and some
eight or ten feet of her false keel came up and floated along-
side. Then she came up again, the squall passed over, and
the little vessel was tossing about among the big rollers
outside the reef, with Donald's forcible remarks on squalls
and coral patches as a running commentary. To make
things worse, the loss of part of her false keel made the
ketch steer very much worse than before ; but the wind was
just abaft the beam, and it kicked the little vessel along at
a famous rate. She went staggering and plunging through
Keppel Bay, and up the river, By sundown she had dis-
charged her uncouth cargo. The twenty-nine turtle totalled
93cwt., and Donald and Smith, after making all snug on
board, betook themselves in the dingy to Rockhampton,
there to arrange for another trip.
The turtle speculation was an unfortunate one for the
Lake's Creek Meat Works. For some inscrutable reason the
tinned turtle would not keep. A considerable quantity was
exported, but most of the consignments went bad, and had
to be destroyed. The trade, while it lasted, was highly
profitable to the catchers, though in any case it could only
1)6 followed during the three montlis in which the turtle
resort to the lonely islands of the Great Barrier Reef to
lay their eggs.
Donald and Smith, being steady fellows, reaped a golden
harvest ; but eveiyone was not so prudent. A man, whom
we will call Wood, was sailing a cutter owned by a Chinese
merchant of Rockhampton. He was a good seaman, but
of most intemperate habits. He went turtling in the Bun-
ker Group, and was nearly as successful as Donald & Co.
When Wood got his cheque he settled with the owner of
the cutter, and then went on the spree, ino7-e sno. After a
two or three days' debauch, he and his mate took the cutter
312 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
down the river, having with them only one bottle of grog
as sea stock. Wood exhibited a highly developed attack of
delirium tremens, and the cutter was taken alongside a ship
lying in Keppel Bay for more gi'og. A quite insufficient
supply was given, and Wood's mate, being afraid to go out-
side with a man in such a state, and finding that the tide
served, run the cutter through the Narrows, between Curtis
Island and the mainland, into Port Curtis, and anchored.
It was unfortunate, as all half measures are unfortunate.
During the night. Wood became violent, and went about
brandishing a tomahawk. His mate hid himself, and, next
morning. Wood had disappeared, and so had the cutter's
dingy. During the day the people in a passing boat took
off" the other man. The dingy was found among the man-
groves, but, of Wood, no trace was ever found.
THE YELLOW-STONE OF QUEENSLAND.
& NCE I owned a copy of " Dampier's Voyages to
Australia." It was published nearly 200 years
ago, and is now in the Government Library of the
Government Botanist. In it old Dampier figures
the animals and plants he saw on our north coast —
y"^ iguanas, bananas, <kc.- — but he never names gold ;
nor do Captains Cook or Flinders, in any of their notes
on New Holland, hint at it. Sir Thomas Mitchell and
Leichhardt, whatever minerals they saw in their explora-
tions, seemed never to have suspected the existence of gold,
though the latter traversed the Cape River and the GiH)ert
River, both the sites of famous golden reefs.
Leichhardt disappeared in 1847, and it was not until the
beginning of the next year, when the bullets were flying
about in Paris over the Louis Phillipe revolution, that
London was startled by the still more momentous news of
the gold in California, then newly acquired by the United
States from Mexico.
This led, indirectly, to the discovery of the metal in
Australia, in 1851, through Hargreaves noticing the resem-
blance of the formations in Australia with those of California;
and — strange to say — it was first found in both countries
on the land of a Mr. Suttor. Mr. Toms disputes with Har-
greaves the merit of being the first to drop on to the gold
in New South Wales, but the latter got the reward.
314 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Neither of them, hovvever, was the first to find it. I was
in Melbourne in March, 1851, and, in the window of a
jeweller's shop in that city, I saw, suspended by a thread, a
lump of pure gold the size of a musket ball, and labelled
" from Clunes." Knowing people in Collins-street shrugged
their shoulders, and said " from California," and pooh-
poohed the Clunes idea, or that of gold in Australia at any
price ; but Clunes proved golden later on. However, on
10th May, 1851, New Holland attained her majority, and
Australia became of age ; for, on this day, the Sydney
"Government Gazette" officially announced to the world
that gold existed in the colony ; a lyrojws of which I may
here be allowed to express my surprise that such an anni-
versary is not kept regularly as a supreme holiday, seeing
how much more important a bearing the .£300,000,000 of
gold unearthed in the past has had on the destiny and
expansion of Australia, than the few hundred of convicts,,
landed on the 26th January, 1788, at Port Jackson have
had. Yet this latter event is religiously observed. But
we shall, I hope, grow wiser in time. I say nothing here
of the £1,000,000,000,000 of gold that has yet to be dug out
in our continent. My argument is sufficient without that.
The discoveries in New South Wales in 1851 were quite
eclipsed by the gold finds in Victoria in 1852, in the Novem-
ber of which year, the gold came rolling into Melbourne at
the regular rate of £400,000 a week, enough to demoralise
a poverty-stricken city then smaller than Brisbane, and
having no export but wool, tallow, and hides up to that
period. Let anyone try to imagine what would come over
Brisbane, if gold were found at this rate within 100 miles
of the General Post Office.
People now began to wonder if " Moreton Bay " (as we
were then called) had any gold ; but it was voted in Sydney
that the Darling Downs (the supposed garden of Australia
THE YELLOW-STONE OF QUEENSLAXD. 315'
then) and gold together, would be " too much joy " for any
one place, and people there scouted the idea, as the Collins-
street men did the Clunes gold of March, 1851. However,
at the end of 1853, Mr. Stutchbury, the Government Geolo-
gist of New South Wales, was sent up here to explore, and
he, in about December of that year, found gold near Port
Curtis, at the Calliope, and this was the lirst authenticated
discovery of gold in the territory of Queensland. The
Dawson River was at that time the very outside limit of
settlement.
Messrs. Charles Moore (of the Sydney Government Gar-
dens) and P. L. C. Shepherd (nui'seryman of the same
place) were up in Brisbane about the same time on a botani-
sing tour. They stayed at the same hotel with me for a
montli, and they informed me that, although looking for
plants and not for minerals, they had found gold by washing
in the same locality that Mr. Stutchbury did.
The next discoveiy of gold in Queensland was in August,
1856. I was up in Warwick then, and a shepherd on Can-
ning Downs brought in from " Lord John's Swamp " 8 dwts.
of gold, which I bought and still have by me, the oldest
uncoined specimen now extant of Queensland gold, I sup-
pose. I had as far back as 1854 noticed the quartz formation
at Talgai, and anticipated the discovery of gold in the reefs
there. About this time further discoveries of gold took
place. Brisbane, a village, and weary of waiting for separa-
tion, and finding trade dull, sent out expeditions, one of
which found gold at Boonoo Boonoo, New South Wales,
and another at Emu Creek, on the way to Gympie ; but
these were small affairs by the side of the Canoona rush,
which came off in 1858, and for a time left Brisbane cut off
from the world, every northern steamer and schooner from
Sydney being diverted to the Fitzroy River trade for the time
beino-. And in this connection I remember writing, from.
316 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
the Union Club, a letter in 1857 to the Surveyor-General
in Sydney, asking him if he knew that there was a river up
North named the Fitzroy, as wide and deep as the Thames,
where wool was produced, and which had neither a wliarf
nor a township. In reply, a surveyor was promised to be
sent up to lay out a township below "the rocks." Ihe
panic in Brisbane in August, 1858, amongst the holders of
Brisbane corner lots, during the Cauoona fever, may be
imagined when I state that a full town allotment, corner
of Edward and Mai-y streets, sold for £300, and the vendor
was only too glad to " pull that out of the fire," as he
thought. However, Canoona died away. Mount Morgan
and the Crocodile as yet " were not."
The Dee River and VVestwood were credited with copper
merits only. Gold slept, pretty well, till 1862, about which
period Peak Downs, Gayndah, and the Star River were
lieard of. The Gayndah people made an effort and offered
.£2,000 reward to anyone who would find a payable goldfield
"whose trade would pass their door. The ubiquitous digger
took advantage of every shower of rain with his tin dish ;
and it soon became known that in the country that stretched
eastward from Eidsvold and Rawbelle to Reid's Creek and
Mount Perry, alluvial gold existed and could be got out in
wet weather. But nothing worthy of note occurred till, in
October, 1867, Gympie, with its wondrous yield of 3501b.
of gold from 7cwt. of stone, startled Queensland into a
knowledge of the fact that reef and not alluvial gold was
her strong point in that metal. And then the grand mineral
district that extends from Glenbar and Merodian on the
north, eastward to Glastonbury and Gympie, and through
Kilkivan and the Black Snake southerly to the head springs
of the Brisbane River, began to show forth its powers in
gold, cinnabar, and copper production. Similar develop-
ments took place up North, w^here the lamented Richard
THE YELLOW-STONE OP QUEENSLAND. 317
Daintree, a geologist and explorer, who carried the camera
and lens on a pack-horse wherever he went, brought under
notice the golden capabilities of the Cape, Gilbert, and other
districts, and gave us those undying realistic pictures of old
Queensland life in the bush, and still older eruptions of
subterranean forces, that keep his memory green amongst
us. Ravenswood and the Cloncurry in 1870, Charters
Towers in 1872, now became known and famous, and the
latter soon passed the more "patchy" Gympie in the race
for auriferous honours.
The ante-Californian prophecies of Sir Roderick Murchi-
son, and especially the later inductions of the Rev. W. B.
Clarke, found ample fulfilment in North Queensland as well
as further South ; and whether it was quartz or gossan,,
porphyry or limestone, syenite or slate, that formed the
matrix, there lurked " El Oro " in all his glory.
I need not follow the subject down to the Mount Morgan
era, or tell of the possible glories of the Mackinlay Range
and other places that now hide — ^even as Mount Morgan
once did — -their gold so well. Suffice it when I say that,
great as we think our development in gold and gold-extract-
ing machinery in 1887,* the time is near when we shall
consider them as rudimentary as we do the days of Canoona
and early Gympie. Our yield will astonish the world and
make us famous, when the over -inflated, London -floated
Queensland gold mines of 1886-87 have ceased to leave their
sting behind them, and have been replaced by mines floated
and sold for fair value only, and the grand struggle for
supremacy that will take place during the next twenty years
between the vast golden mundic beds that lie beneath the
surface at Charters Towers and the Etheridge country in
North Queensland ; in the Crocodile, Cawarral, Rosewood,.
* It should be borne in mind that the late Mr. Bartlej- penned the above lines ia
18S7. Editor.
318 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
and Morinish districts south of the Fitzroy, in Central
•Queensland ; and the equally mighty (regarded in nature's
grand mineral upheaval) Burnett and Mount Perry districts
in Southern Queensland, will — whichever of the three comes
finally to the front — be all the while tending to the fame
^nd prosperity of Queensland ; for the three, though seeming
rivals, will be always pulling together, and whatever is the
■outcome of their rivalry, this will go similarly to the credit
side of the Queensland ledger.
It is well known that for hundreds and thousands of
years there has been a steady export of gold in the shape
■of alluvial " dust " from the continent of Africa, alike on
its west coast, and from those parts that border the Levant
and Red Sea, and this has held good from before the days
•of King Solomon, Ophir, and Tarshish, until now. Statis-
"tics are silent as to the quantity of gold, but it must have
been very great indeed. Then again, we have it on record
that the princes of Hindostan possess uncounted treasures
of gold in coin and jewels, the produce of their country,
whose alluvial gold resources could alone have furnished
them ; for there was neither there nor in Africa any gold
■quartz crushing machinery fifty years ago. Hence the gold
■exported from and in use in both places must have been
both local in origin and alluvial in character. The same
remark may apply to Peru and Mexico, where gold was so
abundant and used for domestic utensils 300 years ago, and
which must all have been alluvial in the absence of the
stampers of our nineteenth century. I cannot speak with
certainty of the jDroduce in gold of the Ural Mountains in
Russia, but I fancy that reef gold must predominate there.
Some massive specimens that T have seen show free gold
and malachite, exactly like the early raised stone from the
^' Alliance " reef at Morinish, near Rockhampton.
We may fairly infer from what I have here stated, that
THE YELLOW-STONE OF QUEENSLAND. 319
the confessedly rich alluvial gold deposits of Peru, Mexico,
Africa, and India, must have greatly impoverished the
reefs in all these places. Indian and African reefs will
rarely " pay." No place, with the exception, possibly, of
Brazil and the country lying northward between it and the
Spanish main, will ever come to rival Queensland in the
production per ounce per ton of reef gold. California and
New Zealand can never do it, for they are both handicapped
in the alloying mixture of silver with their gold, to an
extent which affects its value greatly. The colony of Vic-
toria affords us a striking example of the way in which the
alluvial gold has " robbed " the reef. The full yield of
alluvial, so far, from all Victoria, may be safely put down
as between 150 and 200 millions sterling, and to this extent
the reefs have suffered, and the result is that something like
9dwts. of gold per ton is the average reef produce of Vic-
toria. Contrast this with Queensland, where, with the
exception of the great alluvial deposits on the Palmer River,
there was no water-washed gold found in the soil to a large
amount anywhere, and so it came to pass that, in the year of
which I write (1887), our reefs have yielded all round, as
nearly as possible, 40dwts. of gold to the ton^ — an average
result which not only challenged, but (in racing phrase)
■" distanced " all the world besides.
And there is an advantage in this to our colony that does
not appear in the surface of matters. Reef gold has to be
(very much) worked for, and one-half at least, of its £3 10s.
per ounce value has to be spent and remain in the colony
in the shape of wages, machinery, &,c. We clearly gain by
every ounce of gold won from the reef in our vast territory.
There is none of that system of taking £30,000 worth of
gold in nuggets and water-worn pieces out of one hole, in
one week, that used to obtain in the colony of Victoria,
enaVjling the lucky tinders to go home to Europe with their
320 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
plunder, and leave the colony only the richer by their week's
rations and the purchase of their mining tools. Fortunately
we in Queensland get considei'ably more, though indirect
benefit, from our gold yield than this.
The Southern limit of payable gold in Queensland may be
considered to be at Gympie, where it occurs in a tolerably
pure state in quartzr that traverses what miners call "slate,"
but which more resembles diorite (or basalt). There is a
little galena and copper, and some calcspar with it, but it is
much moi'e "free" than the gold at Kilkivan, which is so
mixed up with copper, lead, and other metals as to be diffi-
cult to extract, though very plentiful. Eidsvold, in the
same district, gives good "straight" quartz and gold. Pass-
ing north we come to the Mount Perry, Reid's Creek, and
Rawbelle districts, where gold is also plentiful, but much
incorporated with the ores of iron, the same as at the
Crocodile Creek and Charters Towers. Passing over the
minor reefs at Cania and the Boyne, we come to that grand
" Central Emporium " of gold in Queensland, that lies
grouped to the south of the Fitzroy River. Rosewood and
Mount Morgan produce the purest gold in the colony,
Clermont and Cloncurry being " well up " in point of fine-
ness also. Ridglands and Blackfellows' Gully show free
gold in decomposed sulphuret of lead, and at Morinish it
shows free and very pure in iron and copper ores. Mount
Britton and Clermont are minor goldfields, but Charters
Towers is a proof of the prolific nature of gold mundic in
the concealment, entanglement, and useful reservation of
gold in wholesale quantities free from all risk of alluvial
escape, or of being cheaply raised and borne out of the
country without benefiting its native land, as so much of
the alluvial gold of Victoria did. Ravenswood, at the
Upper Camp, carries some very refractory gold ores, as shaz'e-
holders have found to their cost, albeit very rich in the
Interior of Chillagoe Cave (o.
THE YELLOW-STONE OP QUEENSLAND. 321
precious metal. The Cape River reefs have very free, pure,
and thread-like Blaments of gold in them, and the Etheridge
produces beautiful waxy, white needles of cerussite (car-
bonate of lead) crossing each other in every direction, and
with little "pinheads" of pure gold adhering to every
intersection, and evei'yone wonders how it came there.
At some reefs, such as the Aurora, so mixed is the stone
that three distinct oi^es of copper, one of lead, and one of
iron may be seen with the native gold on a piece not larger
than a boy's list. The Hodgkinson reefs are much troubled
with peacock copper ore. The Croydon is too vast an area,
and too little explored for anyone to pronounce as to what
form of stone predominates there, beyond saying that there
is plenty of iron in it, and much silver with some of the
gold. The Palmer reefs, though much " robbed " by the
heavy alluvial deposits, are so well in the tropics that there
is plenty of gold left in them, for reefs and gems grow rich
as you approach the equator. Gold is found to the east of
our meridian in New Caledonia and New Zealand, and in
the former 64 ounces to the ton has been assayed, but none
of it is of high purity ; and west of our meridian we have
Kimberley and Borneo, as gold-producers of as yet unknown
value ; but nothing has been found to surpass the Eastern
Cordillera of Australia, from Cape York to Gippsland
latitude, while for " unrobbed " reefs that will employ
labour and produce gold, locked up meantime in trust for
future generations, long after the alluvial beds of Victoria
have been cleaned out, we shall have to look solely to that
vast territory at present known under the general name of
Queensland.
THE DISCOVERY OF MAGKAY.
EPUDIATION is the destiny which almost in
variably awaits the discoverer. The distinction
which awaits the man of enterprise in other paths,
comes to the explorer posthumously. His labours
often unrewarded, his perils unsung, the credit
of his success not infrequently accorded to the
clamorous pretender, he too late, if ever, receives the tardy
recognition of a posterity which reaps the advantage of his
discovery, and awards him the empty honour of a name.
That Captain John Mackay proves no exception to
what seems a fatality, is found by a perusal of certain par-
liamentary debates, when a motion was brought forward
by Mr. Edward Palmer, member for Carpentaria, calling
upon the Government (Sir Samuel Griffith then Premier) to
confii'm the resolution so unanimously affirmed in 1882, and
according Captain Mackay a grant of land for his discover-
ies. But the motion furnishing an opportune medium for
the conveyance of political feeling and resentment, after
considerable discussion by an unusually small attendance of
members, was negatived by a majority of one — a result when
viewed with the former unanimous expression of the House,
niust be accepted as satisfactory evidence of the justice and
equity of his claim, and the willingness of the people of Queens-
land, through their representatives, to grant such claim.
Sir Samuel Griffith was one of those who most opposed
the motion when the question on the last occasion came
before the House. He asked " What about the discoverer
of Townsville (Mr. Black) ; I think that a much more valu-
able discovery than Mackay, and the man who made it is
THE DISCOVERY OF MACKAY. 323
deserving of more than Mackay 1 "What about the dis-
coverer of Port Denison (Mr. Stirling) 1 He got no reward,
and I do not know that the discoverer of Normanton or
Burketown ever got anything."
Apart from the historical fact (which one would think
such prominent men would be familiar with) that Cleveland
Bay was discovered and named by the immortal Cook during
his memorable voyage in H.M.S. "Endeavour," Captain
King, R.N., in 1818, then engaged surveying the Inner
Route, measured a base line on the sandy beach in shore
of Magnetic Island, with the view of triangulating the Bay.
But observing, like his gifted predecessor, the erratic deflec-
tions of the magnetic needle, and being pushed for time, he
was reluctantly compelled to abandon the project. Again,
early in 1862, Mr. G. Elphinstone Dalrymple made a journey
northward to Rockingham Bay with the view of discovering
a pass through the coast range to the Valley of Lagoons,
where his partners (Messrs. Scott) were then forming a
station. On his return to Bowen he found a letter from
Captain Robert Towns, of Sydney, asking where, in his
opinion, was the most favourable site for the erection of a
boiling-down works, that would be available for the cattle
stations then forming on the Lower Burdekin. In reply,
Mr. Dalrymple recommended the mouth of what is now
known as Ross Creek. This was some months before the
arrival of Mr. Black. So much for the Griflitli version of
the discovery of Townsville. Let us see how Port Denison
came to be discovered.
On Dalrymple leaving Rockhampton, in 1859, he arranged
with Captain Sinclair, of the schooner " Santa Barbara,"
that four months after his departure he would proceed with
stores to the mouth of the Burdekin River, and there await
his arrival coming south. Dalrymple, however, being unable
to reach the appointed rendezvous, Sinclair, after waiting a
324 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
reasonable time, returned to Rockhampton, reporting, on his
arrival, the discovery of Port Denison. Besides the charter
money, I think the Government gave him £100, and offered
him the appointment of Harbour-Master, which he declined.
The discovery of the rivers flowing into the Gulf of Car-
pentaria cannot be claimed for any individual explorer.
Leichhardt crossed some of them on his first expedition to
Port Essington, others were discovered from seaward two
years previously by Captain Stokes, in H.M.S. "Acheron,"
who, after carefully surveying fully two hundred miles of the
southern shores of the Gulf, ascended the Albert River with
his boats some distance above where Burketown now stands,
naming the flat land on its banks the Plains of Promise.
But, to return to Mackay. When reminded of a promise
so frankly made by Sir George Bowen, in the presence of
Mr. Gordon Sandeman, Sir Samuel Griflith, as if conscious
of the absurdity of his arguments, resorted to the not un-
usual professional alternative of adding insult to injury, with
the persistent rejoinder of " Where is the proof 1 Where is
the proof ? " concluding his chapter of subterfuge with the
illogical remark that by Captain Mackay's acceptance of a
harbour-master's berth, he had forfeited all claim to compen-
sation, apparently forgetting that in Captain Mackay's
absence someone equally competent would be required to
perform the work.
The then Minister for Lands (Mr. Dutton) taking his
cue from his chief, Sir S. W. Griffith, spoke as follows : —
"Although Mackay must ever hold a foremost place among his
contemporary pioneers, the men who discovered the Burdekin,
the Belyando, the Mitchell, and Warrego, had similar hard-
ships to endure, but we never hear anything about them."
But the Burdekin and Belyando were discovered and
named by the long-lost Leichhardt, on his first expedition
from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, while in 1845, Sir
THE DISCOVERY OF MAOKAY. 325
Thomas Mitchell, Surveyor-General of New South Wales,
fitted out by the Imperial Government with every necessary
conducive to success, discovered the Mitchell and Warrego,
as well as the Barcoo (Victoria, of Mitchell) with the
immense pastoral area now known as Central Queensland.
What other discovery has been so fraught to Queensland
with commercial and agricultural prosperity as Mackay and
district ■? When Captain Mackay made the discovery he
was in search of pastoral country, the finding of which to
some extent, it may urged, brought its own reward, but his
claim for compensation for having solely at his own expense
made known a port and district which in contemporaneous
prosperity (no matter liow indifferent tlie former) has to-day
no rival in Queensland, rests on such just and equitable
grounds that it ill becomes anyone to dispute it.
Captain John Mackay was born in March, 1839, at Inver-
ness, Scotland, and received his education at the Free Church
Academy in that town. He first came to Australia in the
ship "Australia," (Captain Mowbray Mountain) arriving in
Melbourne in 1854, visiting Sydney the following year
in the ship " South Carolina," Captain Charles Leisk. While
on the Rocky River diggings, in 1859, he was chosen leader
of an expedition to northern Queensland, the most notable
result of which was the discovery of Mackay and district.
Having travelled overland from New England to Rock-
hampton, a final departure was taken in March, 1860, from
Marlborough (the then furthest out station) from where
they were absent some five months. During the trip they
encountered dire privations from the scarcity of food, and
fever and ague, to which one of the party succumbed, and
was buried on the head of Denison Creek. They penetrated
north as far as 20deg. south latitude on the Burdekin River,
but, observing the marked trees of Dalrymple's party (who
preceded them by some iiionths) they retraced their steps to
326 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
the southward, deviating however more to the eastwai'd,
then on the outward journey, when the head waters of the
Pioneer River were discovered and traced to the sea coast.
On the homeward journey they fell in with a party of three
white men, comprising Mr. Andrew Scott, of Hornet Bank,
Dawson River, a Mr. Ross, and Mr. William Fraser, whose
family had been murdered by the blacks at Hornet Bank
some years previous. Being destitute of food like them-
selves, they made common stock of their meagre supplies,
and travelled together to Rockhampton.
In 1861 Captain Mackay formed the station of Green-
mount, some fourteen miles west of where the town now
stands, and, chartering a schooner at Rockhampton, he
ascended the river, and afterwards sent by her, to the Crown
Lands Office, Brisbane, a map of the locality, correct position
of mouth, with soundings and directions for finding it, on
which report the Mackay River was shortly afterwards
(without any expense to the Government) declared and
gazetted a port of entry. In 1863 Commodore Burnett
(afterwards lost in H.M.S. " Orpheus," on the Manakau bar,
N.Z.) visited Queensland in H.M.S. " Pioneer," and having,
in honour of one of his officers, named a stream flowing into
Rockingham Bay the Mackay River, he suggested, in order
to avoid geographical and other mistakes hereafter, that
Captain Mackay 's discovery should be named the Pioneer
River. But the Queensland Government, not wishing to
detract from the merits of discovery, named the town then
being surveyed on its banks Mackay.
In 1864 Mackay had the pleasure of travelling from Rock-
hampton with the Hon. Gordon Sandeman, who, conversant
with his labours as a pioneer, induced him, while in Bris-
bane, to accompany him on a visit to Sir George Bowen,
who, with reference to Mackay's claim, expressed himself as
follows : — " Were the Government now to recognise your
THK DISCOVERY OF MACKAY. 327
claim, many less deserving applicants would come forward
for places of minor importance. But you can rest assured,
Mr. Mackay, that if ever the district becomes of any impor-
tance, it will be the bounden duty of the Queensland
Government to remunerate you."
How Mackay was remembered has been seen. Shortly
afterwards he left Queensland and resumed a sea life. For
several years he commanded vessels under the agency of the
well known Sydney firms of Montefiore, Joseph & Co., and
Rabone, Feez & Co., trading to the various groups of the
Pacific, and ports of the eastern seas, amongst which he has
experienced some hair-breadth escapes and thrilling adven-
tures. He has also commanded vessels under the American
and Tahitian (French protectorate) flags.
It was in October, 1882, that a motion by Mr. John
Stevenson (member for Clermont) was carried in the Queens-
land House of Assembly, without division, awarding him a
thousand acres of sugar land, as compensation for the dis-
covery of Mackay and district, which, a week later, was
passed in committee. But parliament being shortly after-
wards prorogued, and a change of ministry unfortunately
following, the reward was never made eftective. Although
under the impression that the grant was complete. Captain
Mackay left promising and lucrative professional employ-
ment to take possession of it, and, on arrival in Brisbane,
was appointed harbour-master at Cooktown.
In 1889 Captain Mackay was promoted as harbour-master
to Brisbane, which position he now fills. For five years
before coming to Queensland he commanded steam and
sailing vessels between the New Zealand ports and Fiji, and
when on the point of leaving was offered an appointment
by the Union Steamship Company. Captain Mackay holds
an extra master's certificate, and exemption for several New
Zealand and Australian ports.
OLD MAGKAY.
^S^^K IMES are changed since the little steamer
'^Mi "Tinonee" did the whole of the A.S.N. Co.'s
^g. business north of Keppel Bay, and sufficed for
"" the traffic, too. She could get into the Pioneer
'^i River, and lie alongside the wharf at Port
Mackay. There was then no bridge across the
Pioneer, and all who wanted to cross the stream to the upper
plantations liad to wade it. Just beloAv the crossing place
there was a deep hole, in which a very large crocodile used
to lurk. He could be seen sometimes lying on the bottom,
with his great jaws expanded, waiting for any nice morsel
that the current might carry down to him ; but he was
reputed to be a peaceable, harmless beast, at any rate he was
never known to interfere with man or beast on the crossing.
When Mr. Fitzgerald, the surveyor, first took up the land
which is now the Meadowlands Plantation, few people had
any idea of the future in store for the district. The dreaded
colonial fever was then rife, as it was at first in Illawarra,
and in many other districts of New South Wales, which are
to-day among the healthiest in Australia. As the land was
cleared, and cultivation extended, the fever disappeared,
and he would be a bold man who would now assert that
there is anything in the climate of Mackay, or its peculiar
industry, inimical to the European constitution.
When Meadowlands had been got into full swing, Mr.
Fitzgerald, in partnership with Mr. Davidson, took up the
Alexandra plantation, and added to the sugar mill a large
OLD MACKAY.
329
•distillery. Messrs. Amherst and Pocklington, and Hewitt
and Roniilly, bringing into the business large amounts of
English capital, also started plantations on a substantial scale,
and Mr. John Spiller established the Pioneer Plantation on
the northern bank of the river, above Amherst and Pock-
lington's. Mr. Spiller was an excellent practical farmer,
with a great natural faculty for organisation, and these
qualities more than compensated for the want of large
pecuniary means. In his time there was no more economi-
cally or efficiently managed property in the district than
was the Pioneer. He never employed manual labour where
he could get a machine to do what he wanted. He never
really believed in South Sea Island labour either, though he
employed it largely, not from choice, but because he could
not get enough of any other. When he left the district,
just before he disposed of his plantation, he impressed on
the manager whom he left in charge his conviction that
Europeans, if they could be got to work steadily, and were
efficient, were really cheaper than kanakas. In north
Queensland the difficulty has always been to get good, steady,
and capable European labour.
In the seventies old Mackay was an isolated place, only
accessible by land from the west. Some daring bushmen
had occasionally made their way from the southward along
the coast ; but the journey was full of peril, for the blacks
were bad between Broadsound and Saccharopolis, and there
were only two small cattle stations along the route, and
they were emphatically posts of danger for the stockmen in
charge of them. At one of them, Kelvin Grove, two men
were murdered in one year. The second of the two was
speared in full view of his hut, and in the presence of his
wife, who defended the hut for three days against the whole
tribe of blacks. The husband had only just gone out to
-catch his horse, with the intention of riding to Clairvaux,
330 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
the next station to the southward, to get men to muster.
The blacks were evidently waiting for him, and, before he
had gone many yards, he had two spears in his body, and
was felled by the stroke of a boomerang, which struck him
on the temple. Then the savages made a rush for the hut,
wliich was of heavy slabs loopholed for defence, and had an
iron roof. The wife slammed the heavy door in their faces,
and having plenty of arms and ammunition, began firing
from the loopholes. Travellers were not numerous along
that lonely track in those days, and the siege might have
been prolonged indefinitely, perhaps, till the heroic woman
was compelled, by thirst and hunger, to surrender herself,
if her husband had not been expected at Clairvaux. A
party of half-a-dozen armed horsemen was sent to look for
him, and found him dead. They drove away the blacks,
and relieved the widow from her terrible position.
On another occasion after tlie affair just related, a man
with two horses was making his way northward. One of
the horses was lost near Kelvin Grove, and the stockman
in charge kindly offered his help to find the animal. The
two men were out all day, but without success, and they
camped for the night. The stranger sat by the fire, but the
stockman, who was uneasy, went away to take a look round.
Before he returned, the traveller, who was no stranger ta
the bad reputation of the district, became nervous, and stood
on his guard. A dim figure appeared through the surround-
ing darkness. It proved to be the stockman, who said, when he
came up to the fire — " We shall have to shift out o' this, mate,
or the blacks will be on us. I've been yabberin' with 'em."
No sooner said than done. The horses, which were feed-
ing close to the camp, were caught and saddled, and the
hobbles taken off. The men camped again about half-a-mile
away, but did not make a fire. In the morning they returned
to their former camp. They then saw how wisely they had
OLD MACKAY. 331
acted in removing. Tliere were tracks of naked feet all
round, and even the wood which they had piled on the fire
before they left it was scattered about, as if the blacks had
been searching among the embers for the something they
hoped to find, but could not. The simple device of camping
without fire had baffled even aboriginal cunning. It was
impossible to track in the dark.
Deep Creek used to be by far the worst and most danger-
ous place on the " Coast Track," as it was called. The
creek flowed in a narrow channel between high, steep banks,
and had a narrow fringe of scrub on each side. A day's
rain in the range in which it had its rise would flood it
sufficiently to make it impassable, and delay the traveller
for a day or two. That would suffice to make him an easy
prey to the blacks, who were always on the lookout for such
chances of plunder, and generally murder, too, for they
were cruel and bloodthirsty, and never spared a white man.
The aborigines all along the coast of Queensland have
always been far more dangerous and troublesome than in
any other part of Australia. They are far superior, both
physically and mentally, to the aborigines of the interior.
Their country abounded in all the necessaries of savage life,
safe from the sufferings and losses entailed by the prolonged
and desolating droughts of Central Australia. They were,
and, in the far north, still are, an amphiliious i^ace. Fish
and game (the latter including not only mammalia and
birds, but snakes, lizards, and grubs) abounded, and the
pinch of hunger was seldom felt except by the aged and
crippled. Most of the tribes were more or less addicted to
the practice of cannibalism. This statement has sometimes
been denied by people who only know the blackfellow in his
partially civilised state ; but those who have come into close
contact with him in his native wilds will not question it.
The coast blacks never used the woomera, or throwing-
332 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
stick, foi' throwing their spear. The boomerang and nulla
nulla were their favourite missiles. Their heavily timbered
country made them less dependent on such weapons than
the dwellers on the open plains of the interior. They were
great fish eaters, and caught their fish near the shore in
shallow water with an ingenious sort of purse-net, its mouth
formed of two wooden semicircles hinged together at the
ends. This was dexterously passed under the fish, the half-
hoops closed, and the fish tossed on to the bank, or, if that
was too far off", into a canoe. Sometimes, when there was
a large extent of shoal water, the whole tribe would walk
into it, each having one of these nets, and enclose a slioal
of fish, catcliing as many as they could in the nets, and
driving the rest on shore. The larger fish were speared,
and when this was done from a canoe, the sport was worth
watching. An athletic black, standing like a bronze statue
in the bow of a fragile bark canoe, paddled by his " meri,"
whom he directed by a scarcely jjerceptible motion of his
left hand, while the right held the bone-pointed spear poised
ready to strike, was a sight to see. Then the spear would
descend like lightning, and the struggling fish would be
transferred to the canoe.
The canoe itself of the aborigines of the coast was not
to be despised. It was not, like that of the interior black,
a mere bark dish from the hump of a crooked tree-trunk.
It was made from a large sheet of bark, which was first
flattened out, smooth side downwards. Then the rough
outside was trimmed down, and the trimmings, with a quan-
tity of dried leaves, were spread evenly over the outside
surface, and set on fire. When the sheet of bark was
softened by the heat, the corners were turned up, each end
was doubled on itself, holes were made with a sliark's-tooth
awl, they were sewn with withes, and the canoe was made.
In these little cockle-shells, the blacks were accustomed to
I
OLD MACKAY. 335
make quite long voyages. They would not hesitate to cross
over from the mainland to the Percy and Northumberland
Islands, and even to the Barrier Reef. At times they would
attack the dugong and the porpoise with their spears, and
not unfrequently they were successful. One of these
monsters would provide a royal feast for the whole tribe,
and its capture would be followed by a scene of gluttony
such as the civilised imagination can hardly conceive.
So much for the coast aboriginal and his ways. He
played no small part in the development of old Mackay, for
he helped to supply the labour market when the kanaka
was not available in sufficient force. Old John Jack, of
Sandy Creek, worked his plantation chiefly with aboriginal
labour. This was the last plantation on the Nebo-road, and
John was a character. He first appeared at Mackay as a
sawyer, and made a good deal of money by providing boards
for the liuiidings put up by the eai^ly settlers. In those
days timber tvas timber, and commanded a very high price.
Pine from Maryborough was scarce and dear, and besides,
the white ants made havoc among it, and sound local hard-
wood at double the price was cheaper in the end. Jack was
soon able to equip a sawmill, and lower the price of his
timber, without reducing his profits. Then he planted cane,
and, as he had the engine and boiler, he added a sugar-mill
to the sawmill, and crushed not only his own cane, but that
of some neighbours, "on the halves." Jack, however, was
by no means a successful manager, and contrived to get intO'
difficulties with the financiers, which ultimately cost him
the fruits of years of industry.
Many of the men who helped to make old Mackay have
vanished, and some of them have declared that the sugar
industry had, in their case at least, belied its brilliant pro-
mise. As a matter of fact, too much was expected from it.
The glamour of tradition surrounded the "West Indian sugar
334
AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
planter of the early nineteenth century, when his profits
were swollen by his monopoly of the British market, by the
distillery, and the employment of slave labour. The utter
collapse of the West India colonies between 1840 and 1850
was not understood. Still, the sugar-cane is a profitable
crop, though the loss of waste products through the Austra-
lian restrictions on distillation (which, in the West Indies,
is practically free) is heavy, and the richest soil will not
continue to produce the same crop for ever. This latter
fact was brought home to the Mackay planters some years
ago by the " cane blight," as they called it, which brought
the richest of them to the verge of ruin. Mr. Davidson, of
the Alexandra Plantation, did excellent and unrewarded
service to his fellow planters and the public in this emer-
gency, not only by the field experiments which he made at
his own exjDense and risk, but by his personal researches in
the laboratory. That the practical results were not greater
was not his fault. Time and experience, guided by real
science, can ultimately solve the great problems of practical
agriculture, which affect equally the English and Australian
cultivator.
BUGKFELLOW CRIMINALS.
HEN "Dundalli" was executed for the murder
of Mr. Gregor on 21st August, 1854, a few-
blacks witnessed the scene from about the
present site of Adelaide-street, for Wickham ■■
terrace was not even surveyed till 1856, and
it was not until 1859 that the dense forest,
which covered it, was sufficiently cleared to afford a sight
from it of what went on in Queen-street. Still, for all this
scanty aboriginal attendance, the spectators were quite too
numerous, for they included the little Brisbane children who
were then passing on their various morning errands, and it
was not a fit sight for them to see. In the same month, five
years later, there was a big gathering of the blacks on Wick-
ham-terrace to see the execution, on 4th August, 1859, of
"Chamery" and "Dick," two Burnett River lads, sentenced
for criminal assault on an old German woman, and whom Sir
William Denison refused to reprieve ; the authorities — never
anxious that the blacks should see a murderer hanged, as "a
life for a life " was already a well-known rule with them —
caused all the available aboriginals to be sent for to see this
execution for rape, in order to teach them that it ranked with
murder, a lesson they were slow to learn at that time.
" Kipper Billy," two years later, was another notorious black
criminal, quite in advance of the two callow Burnett boys
already named.
The Upper Brisbane River was the scene of his lawless
336 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
exploits ; he had an eye for white female beauty, and one
handsome lady, the wife of a rich squatter there, carried a
small revolver for his benefit, after hearing how he had
spoken of her. He was a daring fellow, and, after his cap-
ture, he scaled the walls of Brisbane Gaol, and would have
got away, but a bullet from the carbine of Warder Arm-
strong killed him when on the top of the wall, and, strange
to say, no hole could be found in his head or any part of
his body, and it was supposed that the bullet entered under
the eyeball and remained in the skull. His head (like that
of Griflin, at Rockhampton, in 1868) was stolen from the
grave, greatly to the wrath of Shepherd Smith and Henry
Buckley, the churchwardens, or cemetery trustees, of the
period, and it were a bold man who " chaffed " either of
them on the subject till some time after it happened.
But the blacks wei'e not always the sinners. There is a
gruesome legend, hailing from the Macintyre Brook, and
setting forth how a bevy of convict stockmen in the early
pioneer days, not content with merely murdering a black-
fellow, stripped off enough of his skin to make tobacco
pouches from, and dried them in the fire smoke ; Vjut they
had to "dree their Aveird " for it. It is related that, when-
ever they camped near the spot at night, they became aware
of the figure of a black man sitting in a dejected attitude,
with his hands hanging over his knees, at the foot of a tree
on which the light of the camp fire shone. The figure was
distinctly visible 50ft. away, but faded altogether if you
approached within 5ft. of it, and reappeared as you retreated
again. It was not at all "canny " (about the latter days of
Louis Phillipe) to sleep in the next room, at a primitive hotel
of the Southern Downs, to that of some old bushman whose
hands had taken human life. You heard words that you
would gladly forget — yet words enough to make a man
thankful if he had never known "drink" or "blood."
Ll.MRSTONE CmFKS, BuRDKKIN lllVER.
BLACKFELLOW CRIMINALS. 337
The most beautiful strip of country in Australia is that
bounded on the north by the road from Warwick to Cun-
ningham's Gap, on the east by the Main Range, and on the
south by the border of the colony ; a tract which, for beauty,
salubrity, and fertility combined, is unsurpassed in the
world. Here stood Jubb's hotel (pulled down in 1859), the
scene of many an old-time carouse, joke, and yarn. Jubb
was formerly a servant of the Leslies, and it was here that
brave Pat Leslie went down one night, to fight or silence a
whole bar full of noisy bullock-drivers, whose shouts pre-
vented Mrs. Leslie, at the other end of the house, from
sleeping. It was at Jubb's, in 1852, that the youthful Lord
Ker, and Lord Scott (a son of the Duke of Buccleugh) put
up when visiting this mountain scenery after a run through
Sydney. Jubb once told me a hideous ghost story of murder,
suicide, and a haunted dairy, near Goulburn, in New South
Wales, and how the priest laid the ghosts — in his early days;
but, as all the parties were white people, and this deals with
black folk, it need not be referred to further.
ABOUT BULLOGK DRIVERS.
^T is impossible to be "up" to aJl the tricks of the
bullock driver in Australia, as witness the folio w-
" ing : — An old hand had often been "bowled out."
iv After sampling the contents of wine and brandy
'fl casks, he sometimes filled uji the vacuum with
water and sometimes not, the result being disastrous
in either case. It was to be his last trip on that route,
300 miles from the seaport to the copper mines, and they
determined to watch him that time. The only liquor on
the dray was a quarter-cask of brandy, and Bob was
specially forewarned not to touch it, as he would be found
out and punished this time without mercy. He was told
that the cask had been weighed, and so any abstraction
would be noticed, and that, as far as any attempt to fill up
his stealings with water, a sample bottle of the brandy had
gone up in the mail bag to the copper mines, and that it
would be compared with the cask as received from him.
They thought they had " stockyarded " Bob this time. But
all their precautions, which they were so foolish as to reveal
to him, only enabled him to take his own measures accord-
ingly. The brandy was duly conveyed 300 miles to the
mines, was weighed, and found allright, and was sampled
and found to correspond with that in the bottle which
had come up in the mail bags six weeks before, and so
Bob got his clear receipt for it and departed. The brandy
cask was a 30-gallon one, and, after ten gallons had been
ABOUT BULLOCK DRIVERS. 339
used, the tap refused to yield any more. It was supposed
to have got choked, as the cask was clearly not empty,
nor even nearly empty, as its weight told. But all
attempts to make the tap act proved useless. So the
bung was appealed to, and then a tale of horror was revealed.
Bob had taken his precautions well at the seaside. He had,
after he got the " boss's " warning, procured a dozen and
more of clean sheep's bladders, and had them on the dray
with him. He spiled the cask, and partly filled a bladder
with brandy, and through the bung-hole he introduced
another bladder with the same quantity and weight of water
in it, and so on till he had removed twenty gallons of the
brandy, the cask on arrival containing ten gallons of spirit
and twenty gallons of water in sheep's bladders. But Bob
had departed to distant shores before the eclair cisse merit took
place.
THE OLD "PARRAMATTA."
EAR old ship "Parramatta !" Grand old comfort-
able family sea-waggon ! Surely never since the
days of the Spanish Armada were more picturesque
elaborate quarter-galleries, figure-head, or roomy
"chains." I love thee, because thou art built on
the model of, and hast even survived, the line of
battle-ship of King George's day. They are gone, but
thou remainest, and still dost swim and travel the seas,.
as they do not. All our love for Nelson and his ships
of the bygone now centres in thee, old hooker ! so much
art thou their image and presentment. Away with thy
modern sweepers ! with no figure-head or galleries to speak
of. Away with modern utilitai'ianism ! the spirit of Charles
Lamb, of "Elia," ariseth within us and protesteth against
the sweeping away of old sea marks.
What to us is theii' fast sailing and (juick passages ?
Though other ships may carry us, as fair, perchance, as thou
With all the fine lines of thy " run," the contour of thy " bow,"
They never can replace the bark our early fondness nurst,
They may be clippers in their speed, but not, hke thee, "The First."
" The First ! " how many a memory bright that one sweet word cau
brhig
Of hopes that blossomed, drooped, and died, in life's delightful
spring—
Of halycon times all passed away, and eai-ly seeds of bliss,
Which germinate in hearts unseared by such a world as this.
THE AUSTRALIAN SQUATTER.
\' HE typical Australian squatter is a man quite std
^^ ijeneris. You do not meet with his exact double
y^^^^l^ anywhere else in the world. He is generally tall
'^'^(^ and sinewy. His hair and beard are iron grey,
^i and so is often his suit of clothes. His eyes, too,
are frequently grey, and there is an expression on
his face the furthest remove possible from vacant idiotcy or
trifling. Instead thereof is seen a concentrated, strong,
purposeful, earnestness of look, such as is shewn on the
faces of a few eminent generals, but never on those who
have not seen real service ; for the great Australian squatter
has to be a general and more than a general. Not only has
he to battle with savage nature, and give his muscles and
his sleep, his nerves and his life to the task, but also to be
his own prime vizier, financier, council of war, and commis-
sary general. To think of (everything, and to build up
everything, from the start. No adjutants or commissaries
lighten his labour, or render needless much of his fore-
thought. All falls on him, and he responds to the call with
a bravery born of old British blood, and of the stimulating
surroundings of his new life. He goes from strength to
strength, till, at last, others wonder (and he, himself, almost
does the same) how one man can face it all and be "ready,
aye ready " for aught that turns up, as he is. He has all
the tenacity of the Transvaal Boer, with education, savoir
/aire, intelligence, and world knowledge to crown and polish
it. See him on his station he is all brave hospitality. See
342 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCKNCES.
him at the club, in a colonial metropolis, and there is a more
than military aplomb and precision about him. He has
had his discipline, you can affirm at a glance, and there is
the same commanding gleaming eye that directed that dan-
gerous wild ride on the mountain side to prevent the escape
of the cattle meant for a fine market. That was one of his
daughters whom we met yesterday descending the cabin
steps of the mail steamer, with a child leading in one hand,
and another perched on her shoulder. Her feet are small,
but are in loose baggy boots far too large for them, for she
is no dresser. Her husband has a station in far northern
Queensland, and she remembers as a child the time when
father and mother fought the wild blacks for seven hours in
their barricaded cottage, 100 miles from help, and beat them
off with heavy loss, both tiring and loading for themselves.
You might have seen a look of resolution on her pretty face
such as has often taken the " nonsense " out of untamed
horse or bullock, and has luckily never been further called
upon ; yet it would fare ill with anyone who menaced her
little ones even now. But liappily tliose days are passed.
'^^{g^^
THE SEXES.
^ES, the relations between the sexes are strange
K and wonderful indeed ! And who really does know
H>^ and understand them 1 A young man meets a
pretty girl — he all manhood and tire, she all
archness and demure coy coquetry, with womanly
love underlying it all. They marry, they kiss,
and are familiar both before and after that ceremony.
They chaff and joke, and bandy wit with each other all
through, and no people (you would imagine) could be more
intimate than they with one another, and none could more
perfectly know and understand their mates' nature and
inmost soul. And this, too, from the ages of 20 to that of
70 years. Companions by day, companions by night ; every
chance, every opportunity, given for inter-knowledge and
self revelation on lioth sides, this, too, for a full half century
at a time. The silver wedding, the golden wedding, comes
and passes, and yet, I dare to say it, those two true lovers
and soul-mates never really knew each other at all, nor
would they have done it had their joint life been doubled
or trebled. For no man ever yet fathomed, or learnt, the
depth of a woman's real nature, any more than any woman
ever yet did that of a man. A man learns more about
another man, or a woman of a woman — each of their own
sex — in an hour, than they could read aright of one of the
opposite sex in fifty years. No man can track all the feel-
ings of a woman as another woman can, and vice versd.
344 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
They are a creation apart from one another are these
mysteries — " sexes." The veil of the flesh blinds the eye
during life. There is intimacy, there is love, there is happi-
ness, there is oneness, there is all this and more, between
the man and the woman, but they never really see the other
as the other really is, and never will do it till Charon and
the Styx have been passed, and flesh is no more. And, if
all this darkness, all these unexplored closets, exist in the
case of long married and intimate mates, what must be the
ignorance of those who merely flirt with the other sex and
never yield their liberty ? And, if anyone doubt this line
of reasoning of mine, let him or her recall some case in
which they have loved a person, whom, from some cause,
they could not marry. The loved and loving one dies, and
then the survivor at once recalls so many things that he, or
she, might have said, might have done, to the lost one, if
they had only but thought of it and seen it as plainly before
death as after it ; but it never is and never will be so seen
in lifetime, for the veil of the flesh is in the road, and only
disappears when life also does, and only then and not till
then does it cease to becloud the relations between the
spirits of the sexes. Does not a man, does not a woman,
perpetually catch himself or herself in the act of saying-
something to the loved one of the other gender ; a some-
thing that they did not mean and did not mean to say even,
a something that only conceals, in place of revealing, the
real truth % Who can deny these things % Yet, in spite of
this failure to idealise each other, how intense is the longing
for one another I And what results it leads to ! what sexual
cruelty ! Why ! were there no men at all in the world, no
woman would ever revel, as some do, in the killing of another
woman. Killing her, I mean, with envy and jealousy and
mortification over some superior dress or surpassing beauty,
or charm of manner ; all of which are matters often valued
TIIK SEXES. 345
not so much for themselves, as for the pain they can inflict
on others of tlie same sex. There would be no active animal
■cruelty in men if there were no women, but only cruelty of
the passive, neglectful, and lieartless type. The only being
to whom, and of whom, a woman never talks scandal, and
is never envious of or spiteful to, is her baby. Man was
not originally created male and female, like the animals and
birds were, but created alone and in the image of God, and
woman was formed, not of dust, but from the highly organ-
ised flesh and bone of man. Hence the purity, the exquisite
charm, the archness of the retined delicate real woman, and
it hardly leaves her even when she is a little " off colour "
in her behaviour. As witness Abraham's beautiful and oft
stolen wife, in Genesis 18; how she laughed and how she
lied about it, in her poor woman's terror, when the Almighty
One announced to her and her husband His controlling power
in all creative and sexual matters. How grandly, yet
mercifully. He assumes His mantle of omnipotence, as He
speaks to the pretty, but doubting, woman, whom (in her
.mother) He created first in Eden.
ON LOVE.
^ OE to the man who suppresses love. Either
the love that would fain spring in his own
heart towards othei's, or the love that would
fain spring in their hearts to himself. He
misses an awful chance, kills a possible world
of good, and the evil is perhaps most marked
"when it is the case of a parent with his children, or a husband
with his wife. Love is a great power. We cannot murder
or rob those whom we really love, and God Himself cannot
send to hell one who is all love, for such a one could find hell
nowhere. Love would conquer pain, opposition, hatred, and
all else in its rapt self absorption. Woe also to the man who
is ashamed of being good, afraid to seem good, and who would
be mean enough to purchase exemption from ridicule at the
price of denying his actual master, and by professing to know
nothing of that which is really dear to his good but weak and
terrified heart. God give strength to all such, for there comes
a time when cause and effect, logic and science, length and
weight, definition and argument, money and commerce,
learning and knowledge, and all else that pertains to modern
thought and material concerns shall be lost, dimmed, swept
away, and absorbed in the more real though ineffable essence
of something that is indescribable in words, spoken, printed,
or written, and which thought can only faintly grasp, but
which is near us and around us, and must finally triumph
and be all to us and all of us, when the planets themselves
shall have crumbled to decay.
ON MIRAGLES.
> OW little is the nature of the deeds, which bear the
^-, name " miracles, " understood by the world in
[■ general ! No one tries to imagine June they come
,'M about. Some sort of magic divination is suspected,
^-^ and the operator is supposed to be proud and vain
\ ^ of his gifts. How different, surely, must be the
reality ! When the prophet Elisha heard that the Shuna-
uiite's son was dead, how did he act *? Was there any
vainglorious ceremony, posturing, or attitudes ? No ! any
more than there was with St. Paul over the dead body of
Eutychus. A divine feeling of intense pity and gentle
sorrow ; a yearning spirit of love and sympathy that showed
itself in soft murmurs of low-voiced, earnest words (as if ta
a living loved one) and rend itself in a tender touching of
the dead loved one. A trance, a rapt ecstacy, of speaking
and handling, setting forth a deep longing, to which no
rehearsed or remembered words could do justice, the sorrow-
ing one all unconscious of the unseen power that was passing
involuntarily from himself into the lifeless form before him.
Not trying, for one moment, to work a miracle, or to upset
the apparently completed act of God, but all the time exert-
ing an occult force (whether in the spirit, or the body, one
can no more tell than St. Paul once could) which (he knows
not how or why) at last rewards his tender, all-powerful
magnetic love and sympathy, with the sight of a revived
and responding life, to turn and appreciate the love spent
348 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
on it, the strong tender will, the strong tender wish, enrapt
and ignorant of its own power, unconscious even of what
it is doing except that it loves and yearns, is a retlex, albeit
a faint one, of the love and the will that first created all
things. These described were but men's miracles. Turn
we now to the giant miracle performed by the (xod-raan on
Lazarus. Four days in the grave bound hand and foot
with grave-clothes, he still " comes forth " when bidden.
Ho^v did he come % What awful gait was it that he shewed %
What scene of terror and majesty did the people witness '^
He could not walk nor creep, for he was pinioned. He
" came forth bound," and he was not " loosed " till he had
travelled. But travelled how^ Like an awful shadow on
the wall, he must liave loomed, moved by no muscle or
limb, yet still moving. The terrors and the love of that
spectacle are beyond all imagination. The one greatest
manifestation of semi-material power in Holy Writ.
PROPER NAMES IN AUSTRALIA.
^r doubt there are some very ugly-sounding native
yi names, but they are the exceptional few, and the
jv 'f/(( number, even of these, would be diminished if it
'^Ci\^ were not for the grotesque attempts to reduce to
l^i^ English spelling the delicate inflections of the Aus-
tralian tongue which we then pronounce as spelt
in English. People are apt to forget that the Australian
names have not been sj^elt by the natives, but only spoken.
French is a soft-sounding language ; yet I should like to see
the French sound of the word " Rheims " exactly reproduced
on paper, English fashion. The word "Enoggera" sounds
harsh enough, but the native word is "Yewoggera" — the?;-,,
corrupted to n, has been now, to avoid confusion in title
deeds, made a recognised error.
Gunniga Mubbur, in New South Wales, Toon doon gona-
nige and Muttarpilly in Queensland, are also harsh in sound;
but what can be softer and prettier than the name of Jullula,
one of the most elevated, kingly, and beautiful peaks of the
royal Muniong Range of Australian Alps ; or Cowra Goara,
a peak of the Canobolas, near Orange 1 Are Mimmurra,
Illawarra, Yatilla, Peachilba, Ringarooma, Yulgilbar, and
Koreelah, unpleasant to hear 1 And that string of beautiful
lakes which runs out between the Murrumbidgee and Dar-
ling, known as Gunarwe, Macormon, Makoombi, Doondo-
ambli, Lymbennaroy, &c — are they badly named % Is the
Sclireckhorn of the Alps better named or better sounding
350 AUSTUALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
than Jullula 1 Has any dialect of Europe got a more poeti-
cal name than the Camillaroy of Australia ? Even in
Victoria, alongside of such horrid names as Cut Pau Pau,
we find the redeeming one of Bellei'ine. It is quite impos-
sible, with English letters, to print the sound of Australian
words. There is Neurum, or Deurum, or Jeurum, signifying
rain, and neither the N, the D, nor the J, but all three
combined, conjure an idea of the exact sound as pronounced
by the blacks. Bondi, near Sydney ; Mildura, on the Lower
Murray ; Burranjuhi, the north head of Broken Bay, are
all examples of euphonious names. The latter is not unlike
the Spanish Aranjuez in sound. The Moonbi Pass might
have had a far uglier name if an English one, such as Gap
Hollow, or what not.
The race of the aboriginals will soon be extinct in Aus-
tralia ; but her beautiful mountains, glens, waterfalls, and
other scenes of nature, pure air, and strong life will never,
while the vvorld lasts, receive more lovely and appropriate
names than those bestowed by these poor uninspired and
doomed savages. The softest names that Longfellow writes
of, the liquid murmurs of the Polynesian tongue — no lan-
guage that the world most admires can ever more worthily
clothe with titles the scenes of Australia than has been
already done by her aborigines. In this, as in the power of
tracking, they stand unequalled ; in all the rest they are as
nothing. Away then with the hundred and one vulgar
Sandy Creeks, Oakey Creeks, Stony Rises, Devil's Pinches,
Scrub Plats, Brown's Waterholes, and similar abominations
of bewilderment and monotony which fill our Australian
gazetteers at present, and which will do so in future if some
people's taste is to be allowed to prevail against better ones.
GRIGKET.
LUBS may come and clubs may go, but cricket
lives for ever. Brisbane cynics may sneer and
say tliat the days are too short from April to
^ October, and the weather too hot from October to
^^~ April for cricket practice, and that all the rest of
^5 the year is available for it. But still the game
struggles for an existence, and serves its purpose, namely,
to keep the boys out of mischief. There is the "allegretto"
style of cricketer, who sings to the air of "Wet Sheet and
Flowing Sea " —
" Oh ! for a gently hopping ball "
You'll hear some "duffer" cry,
But give to me the " ripper " swift
No odds if low or high ;
I'm bound to " give it fits " my boys,
For, with my bat, d'ye see
I cut it slick past " cover point,"
And I score another "tliree."
his time being changed to " penseroso " in the following -
They've changed the bowler, now, by jove,
And there's mischief in liis ''hi,"
And lie bares a rounded biceps hard.
And he aims one " wicious " shy.
How that ball came I'll never know.
Its course I didn't see.
But it skied my timbers, " leg, mid off,"
My fondly cherished three.
352 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Cricket only hibernates in the cold weather. In summer
the mighty beaker of genial " shandygatf " rewards the sun-
burnt and (it must be confessed) somewhat moist hero of
half-a-hundred runs and not out; and the "yah! butter
fingers," the " run it out," and the " played, sir," and the
"oh! good ball," form the outward manifestations of the
inward emotions of the j^leased, or displeased, spectator, as
the ball happens to be fumbled, or swiped, or smothered, or
disperses the homogeneity (good word that, but, I fear, of
doubtful applicability) of the timbers and bails. Well,
boys, let winners remember that losers did their best, and
the losers bear in mind that someone miost be beaten, and
let both remember that the " cock-a-doodle-doo " business is
out of place in cricket, and that it is " bad form " to venti-
late theories as to what might have happened if Mufiins
had not missed Sloggerson that time in the " slips " in the
third ball of the second over, after he had made fifty-six
"without a chance." It is unkind alike to Muffins, who,
poor fellow ! did all he knew, and is, already, sorrowful
enough over the mishap ; and it is rough on Sloggerson, too,
as it takes half the gilt ofi" his gingerbread. I must now
tell you of two early cricket fights in Moreton Bay — the
great match between Brisbane and Ipswich in June, 1859,
at the North Shore, the "Chuwar" of Limestone, and the
return match, in the same year, on the grassy flat at the
back of where the Hon. P. Perkins now resides in Brisbane,
and, taken for all in all, the play, the lunch, the speeches,
the to^U ensemhh, " Dingley Dell versus all Muggleton," even
with Alfred Jingle and Sii- Thomas Blazo thrown in, was
nothing to it. I admire cricket, and always had a reverence
for it. It carries all the ceremonious gentlemanly punctilio
of the duel, but shorn of its bloodthirsty drawbacks. There
is the exactly measured ground, as in the duel ; the
uniformity of the weapons used on both sides, and the strict
ifc/^..i.
/:««iai&j
1
CKICKET. 353
care exercised to ensure fair play, and that no advantage
shall be taken on either part. But, to proceed. Ipswich
and Brisbane were rival towns from 1843 to 1859, and the
former stole a decided march on the latter when the branch
Banks of New South Wales and Australasia, at Ipswich^
imported some sterling cricketing material in the shape of
accountants, tellers, and ledger - keepers (who were also
wicket-keepers) from the classic recruiting gi'ounds of Laun-
ceston and Mainland — both centimes of cricketing skill. So
the chance was not lost, and poor Brisbane was challenged
to come up and play cricket during the Ipswich race week
of June, 1859. Hard work we had to collect a team, and
great was the array of talent against us. "We took up Dr.
K. Cannan, Shepherd Smith, Colin Munro (now of the
Burdekin), Edwin Norris (of Townsville), C. F. Bell (mana-
ger at D. F. Roberts', solicitor), Walter Birley (of Kangaroo
Point), James Bolger (the Kilkenny underhand bowler), a
Spring Hill cobbler, who could keep wicket well, and some
more whom I forget. We found ourselves faced by the
redoubtable Captain George Maughan, of the "Australasia,"
with his piratical long black beard, red cap and shirt (a W.
G. Grace in miniature) : by Harry Logan, of the Bank of
New South Wales; also F. O. Bryant (6ft. Sin.) of the
"Joint Stock ; " and Harry Glassford (of Gilchrist, Watt ik
Co.), all prime bats; and by an awful bowler, Coulson,
he was from one of the Maitland banks, and had an extra joint
in his shoulder (like a railway semaphore), and could send his
arm with the ball backwards and upwards till it stood all
but perpendicular. Then, like lightning, his arm would
be flat at his side and the ball impelled each time, swift and
true, at the middle stump. And let me here I'emark that the
bowler who covers that piece of timber with every ball needs
"playing." Then Ipswich had A. D. Broughton (afterwards
Sir A. D. B., baronet), and a butcher was there, named Cleary,
famous for never sending any kind of ball up. The fray began.
354 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
W. Sladen, of the Melbourne parliament, was an interested
spectator. Shepherd Smith got a knock early, in the ankle,
which lamed him, and spoilt his bowling, and Bolger bowled
till his shoulder required the chemist, Eldridge, and liniment,
when night fell, to fit him to go on next day. Enough ! Bris-
bane was over-matched — 99 to 65 first innings ; second
innings, they 43 and we 44 ; and they beat us, and proposed
our healths, and banqueted us. Then, next day, we had a
mixed "scratch" match — Bolger, Bryant, Coulson, Glassford,
<fec., on one side, Maughan, Arthur Wienholt, Birley, Colin
Munro, &c., on the other. The first lot won, and, at the races,
all was forgotten. Then came the return match at Brisbane,
about October, and Ipswich had not got her crack team, all of
whom could not leave ; but they brought Charley Fattorini,
Jemmie Laidley, Edwin Campbell, and others down; good
men all, but "not — not the six hundred " — at least, not cricket- 1
ers. The match was played on the forest flat at the back of
the present "Aubigny," North Quay. Bolger was in for three-
and-a-half hours, made 118, sent the ball into the river for 8,
and Brisbane's first innings closed for 322 runs, and the game
was won, in hollow style, by the future metropolis. Club
matches have often been played since between tlie two places,
but I believe the foi'egoing were the only "town against town"
games that ever took place. I must plead guilty, personally,
to a superstitious distrust of the article called a cricket ball.
How innocent but deceitful it looks in the shop windows !
And people tell me it is mxde of cork and leather, and weighs
only 5h ounces. All I know is that when / (the amateur)
hit it, it seems to be made of cobbler's wax, by the way it
sticks to the fielder's fingers ; and when I try to catch it, after
someone else has hit it, it feels slippery as ice, while hot as fire,
and to weigh about as much as a thirty-two pound shot when
in motion. And the diabolic tendency which that same
impish ball has, to rise up in the air, no matter how I try with
the bat to flatten it down to the ground, surpasses all belief.
BLAGK LABOUR.
^|- N what is called the Black Labour "question," much
J>,' print, time, and tongue have been wasted. There
^ is no more room for debate, sentiment, or politics
r^,lf in it, than there is in a sum of arithmetic with
. , its inevitable and self-evident result. Fahrenheit's
y^ thermometer is the only index or guide herein,
and it is an instrument quite devoid of theories, imagi-
nation, or "fads." Some kind or other of "black" man
is bound to "hunt" the white man, in the long run, out
of the coast districts of North Queensland altogether.
God, climate, and nature silently decree it with a legislation
louder than any mere word declamations inside the walls of
parliament ; the white race can no more thrive and be per-
petuated (say) in Cooktown than at Lahore or Demerara ;
absentee white men may own property possibly, and grow
rich on the labour of alien races in North Queensland, but
the laws of nature cannot be set aside. Take every coloured
person, if you like, out of North Queensland, and keep them
out ; try and " run " the place with white men only, and see
the result. At best. Nature, the wise dame, making the
best of a bad job, would, in the course of a couple of
•centuries (if they did not become extinct altogether), have
adapted and turned them all into acclimatised black men,
who would (if a phase of 1893 politics still obtained in 2093)
have to be expelled once more to make room for the " white '
man, for Queensland, you know, sir, is only for the white.
What kind of a degraded, fiery-tempered, unnatural, mur-
356 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
derous race the white lower orders would gradually become
in that climate can be best judged by the annals of America —
but with tenfold intensity would it be, for New Orleans, the
southernmost and hottest city in the United States, is about
3deg. further from the Equator than is Brisbane, the most
southerly and cool of Queensland coast towns. Superficial
talkers, when they judge Queensland by the United States,
should, first of all, consult their atlas and note the very
different parallels of latitude under which the two countries
lie; one place "leaves off" about three degrees before the
other " begins." Black labour is not necessary in the States;
but it is in Jamaica and Demerara, which are under Queens-
land parallels ; and let the political side of the (so-called)
"question" go as it may, Dame Nature will in the end jump
iron-heeled on all and sundry, " Liberal," " Conservative,"
" Labour party," or what not (with no respect of persons,
" views," or creed) who dare to set up their penny trumpet
against decrees, ecliptips, and conditions that were and are
settled (not for ever, perhaps, but still for thousands of cen-
turies before and after our brief era and strut on the scene
and stage). Why, and by whom, and for what purpose, was
the coloured man ever created, and to what place do some
people propose to banish him 1
THE WORD "SYNDICATE.'
OR the life of me, I can't make out why the luclc-
less word " syndicate" should carry with it and
r P excite such feelings of suspicion and distrust. I
don't profess to be much of an etymologist, but
the word "syndic" used to mean the mayor, or the
p^. burgomaster, of a Dutch town, and the syndicate, I
presume, were the aldermen thereof. And yet, mayors and
aldermen are not, necessarily, swindlers. We borrow other
words from the Dutch. There is the word "kop," for in-
stance, imported and much used by low Dutch sailors in the
port of London since the year 1680 or so. It means to
"steal, thieve, or take possession of," so the Wapping
thieves took it up as short and expressive, and in time, an
arresting constable came to be called a " Kop-per." The
only harm that I can see in the unfortunate word "syndi-
cate " is that it happens to be spelt with almost exactly the
same letters as " dynamite," the d y n a i t e being all
present in it, and, perhaps, that is why so many syndicates
explode, blow up, and get shattered to pieces. There is,
evidently, too much of the detonating element in both of
these words.
AUSTRALIAN FISH AND FRUIT.
^ HE fisli and fruit of Australia form fertile, and
also interesting topics. Touching the former, it
i^s, may be remarked, by way of introduction, that
' the sole, turbot, and trout of England are not
reproduced in Australia. But the "trumpeter," of
Hobart, is tlie champion smoked fish of the world,
salmon, haddock, and herring being a bad "second." The
"butter fish," of New Zealand, is a luxury like whitebait
is in England. The giant crab, of south Queensland, has
all the flavour and twice the digestibility of the English
lobster, but the great Australian crayfish is far behind it
in both respects. I must here mention the "dugong," or
sea cow, of south Queensland. People who suffer from
lung, or bowel wasting, or defective assimilation and nutri-
tion of any kind, have been greatly relieved by the use of
cod liver oil, extracted from a cold-blooded fish in no way
analogous to the human species. The dugong (something
like a porpoise to look at) is a warm-blooded, mammal, sea
animal, and its oil and lard (the residuum of the oil) are
the most sovereign remedy on earth for defective assimila-
tion or nutrition, with all the vii'tues of the cod-extracted
article, and a number more of its own. Rich no doubt in
iodides and phosphates from the sea and from a warm-
blooded and milk-bearing, not a cold fish, source, the white
flesh of the "dugong" is a combination, in flavour, of the
veal sweetbread, and turtle steak, and with a " melt-inthe-
i mouth " delicacy that surpasses both of them. There is not
one trace of fish flavour about it.
AUSTRALIAN FISH AND FRUIT. 359
Let uie narrate some of its most wonderful cures, which
sound ahnost fabulous. It must be remembered that oil
taken into the stomach is not verj^ digestible, or capable of
assimilation, and can only be " exhibited " a little at a time.
So, it is here that the "lard" comes in. Placed on "spongio-
piline," like butter on bread, and applied to the skin of
chest and stomach, and kept there, it finds its way through
the skin into the blood direct, without fatiguing, or out-
raging, the stomach, and does its restorative work quickly
and thoroughly. If applied to the skin of a sound person,
it remains inert and unabsorbed outside, while the skin of
a poor consumptive will suck it in and dry the pad in no
time, to his or her lasting benefit. I will cite a few cases
of the effects of dugong lard, which it is not sought to "puff,"
as there is, unluckily, not enough of it to be got, even for
local wants. A boy fell into some boiling sugar, and scalded
himself from ankle to thigh ; a month in the General, and
another in the Childrens' Hospital, only found him unhealed
— a skeleton, with his eyes deep in his head, and dying, under
all ordinary remedies. The lard was clapped on him all
over, as a last resource, and in less than a month it had
given him such vitality that the scald, in place of covering
thigh and leg, had shrunk to the size of a crown piece, the
rest being new skin, and he had regained his ordinary ful-
ness of flesh. Another case : An old lady of 73, wife of a
high Crown official, was seized with paralysis in her bath ;
doctors were called in ; she could not sleep, and opiates
maddened Iier. The lard was applied, sleep came, and she
survived five years more. Another cure : A poor milliner,
of 23, stitching in a hot workshop, " nourished " — save the
mark ! — on tea, tepid water, and bread and butter, in Bris-
bane, began to lose one lung, could not sleep for the "night
sweats," could eat no breakfast, and was in a bad way
generally. A pad smeared with lard was applied ; she fell
360 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
into a sound sleep, woke hungry, ate a breakfast, found her
chest had sucked the pad dry of lard, and kept on at it,
with the result that she gained seven, nine, and thirteen
pounds in weight in the first three months. She then left
off the lard, for (as she said) the oil was so perfectly absorbed
through the skin into the stomach, that it began to rise in
her throat, as newly swallowed castor oil would. She needed
no more at the time, but afterwards, when sleepless, she
would resort to the lard again, and procure renewed health,
appetite, and sleep. The "night sweats" never returned.
An overgrown boy of 17, six feet high, seven stone weight,
unable to work, was, in one month, by the lard, raised to
nine stone, and back to his bench again. A little boy of
eighteen months, whose mother had just died of consump-
tion, was fast following her from mara>imus. His big
beautiful eyes were surrounded by purple rings, his long
eyelashes shading them. I saw and pitied him in his sister's
arms, she and the rest of them looking healthy enough
in all conscience. His little flannel was kept .soaked in
dugong oil day and night, and he was kept clean. At
the end of a month I saw him, not dead, but the beauty of
his eyes all gone. He had come back from the angels, and
was human once more, and, at the end of three months, he
was all " beef," like his brothers and sisters. A word now
as to another natural remedy found in south Queensland.
A medical man of Brisbane suffered terribly from anoemia.
He went to the seaside, and bathed daily in a fresh water
lagoon with ferruginous sandstone walls. At the end of a
fortnight he noticed that the brown leather lining of his hat
was turning quite black where it touched his forehead, and
he at once surmised that iron from his skin had mingled
with the tannin of the leather, and he noticed that his skin
had become red, in place of white, and he felt quite well
again. He put the matter to the test, and sent a keg of
AUSTRALIAN FISH AND FRUIT. 361
the water to be analysed. Its constituents were discovered,
and packages of them were artificially prepared for sale
with equally good results when mixed with bath water and
so used. There was a master painter in one of the southern
towns of Queensland, who had a family of daughters, most
of whom, at the age of twelve, sickened with anoemia, grew
fretful, peevish, and died. I told him of the remedy. His
children could not digest preparations of iron by the mouth
and stomach, nor take up enough to be effectual in that way.
But the absorbing skin, in the bath, found no such difficulty.
As with the lard, as much could be taken into the system
through the skin in one day, as in a month by the mouth
and stomach, and no digestion required, as it went direct to
where it was needed. The child thus treated lived.
Having discussed the fish, a woi'd now as to the fruits of
Australia and England. The peaches of New South Wales
are as good as the French. The apricots of Australia are
far inferior to English, and only fit to make jam of. Tn
greengages and plums, sunny France and southern England
can show Australia the road for saccharine development and
delicious juiciness. These fruits do not flourish in Austra-
lia, somehow. The cherries of Hobart are quite equal to
the Kentish " bigaroons," and the strawberries of New
Zealand to the " British Queens " of Myatt. Raspberries
are large, woody, and tasteless, but make splendid jam when
the absent and lacking sugar is added. Chesnuts and
walnuts grow to perfection in the France-like climate of
Tasmania. Ribstone pippins are also perfect there as in
Devonshire. Grapes and potatoes, of magnificent, world-
challenging merit, and that will keep sound and good longer
than any others in the wide world, are exported from
Adelaide and Hobart respectively. The dry climate of
South Australia imparts a " keeping " quality to its pro-
ducts, which those of damp New Zealand are sadly lacking
362
AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
in. With regai'd to pears, Australia is "all there," and
south of the latitude of 35 degrees, the " Bon Chretien,"
the "Marie Louise," the Bergamot, and the Jargonel, are
up to the mark of anything in Europe. The colony of
Victoria — while, in ordinary English fruits it vies with its
neighbours, Tasmania and New South Wales — is ahead of
them both in the excellence, abundance, and variety of its
kitchen vegetables, tomatos, asparagus, and the like, and
the Cape gooseberry, of southern Queensland, yields, with
sugar, a jelly in whose presence the guava preparation can-
not compete. Oranges in Australia do not defy the world,
those of Bahia and even of Tahiti are far before them in
all respects.
LIFE AND DEATH.
e^ T is a melancholy truism that all bright things
must fade (diamonds, possibly, excepted). One
does not like to realise the fact, for instance, that
tt Dickens' charming wilful Dolly Varden, so full of
refreshing, wholesome vitality and womanly sweet-
ness combined, was born in the earthquake year
of 1755, and would be 137 years old if now alive, and
consequently must have slept with her most "Protestant"
mother full sixty or seventy years ago, when the Reform
Bill and Catholic Emancipation were first agitating the
public mind. Nor is it pleasant to go into figures and reckon
that, if dear old Pickwick was 60 years of age when (a.d.
1829) he read his famous scientific paper on the "Theory of
Tittlebats," then he must have been born 123 years ago^
and so must long since have "joined the majority ; " unless,
indeed, it be (as some folks assert) that his sententious utter-
ances, his rotundity, his spectacles, his childlike simplicity
and love of fair play, good fishing, and a good social dinner
survived for a time in all their original perfection, in the
person of a certain venerable and respected Judge in our
modern Queensland. Few of us will live to see the Dic-
kens' Centenary," which is sure to take place in 1912, with
all the character creatives of his Shakesperian brain, mingling
together in full costume on the stage at one view. We
seldom remember a more beautiful or suggestive sight than
a similar gathering of Shakespeare's characters, on the old
Adelphi stage, and particularly " Hamlet," all bugles and.
364 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
sable, gracefully passing his playful rapier at the philosophic
Touchstone, to the thrilling music of " Macbeth," at that
particular juncture when the witches all resolve nem. con.
to have "a dance upon the heath." Bright fancies are for-
ever being elbowed off the stage of life by stern realities ;
and the gorgeous wedding breakfast and blissful honeymoon
during which the pretty bride trills out the musical master-
pieces of her maidenhood on Pleyel's grand pianoforte are
succeeded, at an interval of twelve short months, by the
advent of the serious-minded monthly nurse, and by strange
noises, unwonted sounds in the house, by sleepless nights,
and the piano neglected for evermore in favor of a new
musical instrument — the baby's voice. But we venture to
say that, if you were to consult the young mother, she would
tell you that baby's most incoherent utterances are worth
whole volumes of Gung'l, Chopin, and Webei", even when
discoursed by the best of Pleyel or Chickering's prize medal
productions in walnut and ivory.
BISMARCK'S DESIGNS ON QUEENSLAND.
E once described the terrible plots which are
hatching in our peaceful midst, and which even
our insignificance and remoteness from tlie-
great world's haunts fail to shield us from.
We have now, alas ! to note a further piece of
secret underhand treachery in our very centre,
and emanating on this occasion, niirabile dictu ! from the
stronghold of the Bismarck himself ! We are, indeed,,
Ijetween two tires. The plot, this time, was hatched in
Berlin, where an emissary whom we will here call Herr
"Von Slawkenberg " (for want of a better name), received
his orders, packed his carpet bag, and made sail for Queens-
land. Arrived there, did he play the guitar, or make love
to the maidens, or call at Government House in kid gloves,
or sing the " Watch on the Rhine % " "No, he was on a
mission, and Herr "Von S." did not come all the way just
to fool or rave about Vaterland. We know not whether he
took the steamer to Maryborough, or haply even to Bunda-
l)erg, but anyway, certes it is that he arrived in due time at
Gayndah — which is a town of Queensland, quite unknown to
nine-tenths of us, and never heard of at all outside our
borders, that is to say never heard of in Australia, but
which is well watched and cared for by them of Berlin.
Then did Herr "Von S.," for the first time, relax his grim
onward Erl King speed, and took to the Izaak Walton
business — took to fishing in the broad-banked, sandy-
bottomed, deep-pooled waters of the crystal Burnett. Yes
366 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
the gentle angler's craft was now his pastime, for, be it
known to you, reader dear, that "Von S." was an able
disciple of Cuvier and Humboldt, and came hither to
look after that which was neglected by the savants
of Australia and England alike, but which was valued in
Berlin. He fished for, and he found, and he took back with
him, the marvellous ceratodus, that piscine wonder with ribs
and hi7igs, that died out in fossil ages long ago, wearied of
the hacknied old world's ways, but which still enjoys exist-
ence in ever fresh Australia, and so links the era of the
mastodon with that of the sewing machine. Yes; "Von
S." fished, and he caught even new and fresh varieties of this
wonder-fish, and he found, moreover, a new, or old, but at
any rate, living monster, which supplies the link between
the tortoise and the serpent. Hear this, ye gods o
Elephanta and of Hindostan, and let your so-called mytho-
logy be called true science for ever hereafter. And, hear
this also, ye sleepy ones of England and Australia, and
know that this same " Von S." was a competent expert of
the first class, and not a man likely to make mistakes in
matters of science. Bismarck chooses no bad tools — that
you know, at any rate ; and so here we are again check
mated, outwitted, outrun, and undermined by strangers in
our very midst in matters of science as well as of religion ;
blind to our own interesting position in the scientific world,
-and a very laughing-stock to the iron heroes of old Herey-
iiia's Valhalla.
*-«-^=#^-^
QUEENSLAND REDIVIVUS.
A>?®*# USTRALTA in 1893 was under a cloud arising
k^from various sources — over-extravagance and over-
^\f,^l5a' prosperity in herself in the past, combined with
(^^jjm! political jugglery, and the whole crowned by the
tactics of the English financial press and Stock
^ Exchange "bears," who "must live," even though
Australia's prosperity has to be "boiled down" to furnish the
feast. And it must be confessed that the spectacle of bank
after bank shutting its doors in the (naturally) richest
country in the world was a sorry and unseemly sight.
Australia was warned thirty years ago not to borrow money ;
but she gave no heed, and the day of reckoning came. Still,
sarcastic comments of the English financial press did
good. They roused a feeling of proud resolve in Australia,
and the time will come when not only will all foreign loans
be paid off, but nothing more will ever be borrowed. Aus-
tralia can produce every mineral, every textile fabric, every
article of food, drink, and medicine, every necessary and
every luxury in the world, in a climate that ranges from
that of Edinburgh to that of Demerara. Such a country
should be a lender, not a borrower, of money. New Zealand,
when her pride was hurt some years ago, led the way in
ceasing to borrow ; Queensland followed. She exports 9^
millions yearly to 4;^ millions of imports on a population of
450,000, and no country in the world can surpass this, and
it is bound to tell its tale soon. Normanton, the Gulf port,
will be the Singapore of Australia — the great outlet gate of
368 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
the island continent, starting from a point 300 miles nearer
to the heart of tlie Dominion than Adelaide is, facing a
smooth-water sea and showing by thousands of miles the
nearest way to Java, China, India, and all the great markets
of the East, for meat, gold, and other products, which the
country at the back of Singapore does not afford, but which
are found, right up to the gates of Normanton, and for
thousands of miles back and round from it. A land which
exports 5h millions sterling annually more than it imports,
on the labour of only 450,000 people, need not stand long
with its hat (so to speak) in its hand. And just look at
the imports, too, boots and shoes (to go no further) — how
much longer do you suppose will the country, which is far
and away the largest cattle holder — per head — in the world,
continue to import, and not to export, leather, and boots
and shoes 1 And so with other imports ; the time is coming
when Queensland will need to import nothing at all, except,
perhaps, human beings and literature. So please let us
have no more sneers in the English press at a land which
has 400 millions of unsold acres, full of grass, water, timber,
gold, coal, silver, tin, graphite, pearl - shell, tortoise-shell,
asbestos, bismuth, copper, chrome, tellurium, mica, anti-
mony, Avool, tallow, sugar, rum, wheat, cotton, indigo, rice,
tea, coffee, arrowroot, hemp, wine, fruit, &c., and to which
outsiders will one day offer their loans in vain ; though I
must confess that Australia has erred hitherto in departing
from the conservative canons of old Scotch and English
banking usage.
— ~^
THE AUSTRALIAN GEDAR SGRUB.
anyone who knows how endless is the range
of the great plant kingdom — which King Solomon
is reported to have so well understood, from the
beautiful cedar of Lebanon down to the wall
hyssop — no botanic gardens in the world serve
so much to remind of what is there as of what
might be but is not there, and never can be there. Speaking
of the cedars of Lebanon leads us to dwell awhile on the cedars
of Australia, and the dense scrubs in which they delight ;
differing totally from the tangled beautiful forests of Tahiti,
away on the east, and those of the Malayan Archipelago on
the north, and affording a host of new sub-varieties which
the hand of man has never yet gathered, nor the brain of
man ever yet classified. And if all these strangers can be
met with in the cedar scrub of Australia, where white men
and intelligent botanists are at hand, what, then, of the
vast and unexplored tropical and extra-tropical lands, where
only untutored savages dwell 1 And who shall even guess
at their unknown riches in fruit and flower, timber and
foliage, colour and perfume, medicine and art material.
And what botanic garden on earth will ever display the
whole of them 1 Less heated than the forests of the Mar-
quesas or Guiana, there is still a very equable temperature
and a decidedly tropical aspect in the dim green aisles of
the Australian "Cedar Brush." An old volcanic mountain
is often the origin of the whole affair, and some ravine on
Y
370 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
its sides gets full in time of rich mould, replete with trachy-
tic and vegetable elements in decomposition, and thus the
little plant colony is started in life, and it soon generously
hides the nakedness of its parent. " Soon," that is to say,
if regarded as a term in our planet's history, and not
measured by the mere span of a man's life, the rainwater
in the ravine helps matters along, and the scrub gradually
spreads sideways, as well as up and down, being fully proof
against bush fires, which cannot penetrate its damp recesses,
on which the sun even exerts no power of drought, and
but little of heat either. And it is only here and there,
too, that the adventurous explorer of these realms of fairy-
land can find an open space in which to enable him to judge
of their enchanted beauties. Their most charming trees,
like many fine churches in crowded cities, are too much
hemmed in with dwarf companions to be visible in all their
glory from any point of view whatever. High up just
where the translucent pale emerald light gleams, unearthly,
like a stained glass window over some cathedral altar, and
scarce breaks through the dense barriers of leafy canopy ;
seeming to be derived, too, from almost any source except
that of the sun itself. High up there is seen the great
staghorn fern, gracefully drooping ; whilst, lower down, on
the irregular sides of the parent tree, its less aspiring
dependents, the mosses and orchids, make up those pictures-
cjue and eccentric bits of form and colour which nature
so much delights thus to hide away for her own glory and
to secrete from the vulgar gaze of man. There is none
of Australia's drought in these moist retreats, and their
pleasant perfume and the subdued light gratify the senses
wonderfully. So much for the mere rambler, then ! But,
alas ! for the botanist. How is lie to explore this place,
and to remove all the coveted gems he would like to carry
off ; unless, indeed, he had the aid of a whole regiment of
THE AUSTRALIAN CEDAR SCRUB. 371
sappers and miners, of bullocks and elephants ■? And who
shall decide as to the species of this or that lovely tree,
whose bark and trunk are so beautiful and gigantic, but
whose top foliage is lost overhead in a dark jungle, inter-
laced with its neighbors in such a manner that you must
perforce cut all down, or leave all alone, if you want to
successfully gratify your thirst of botanical research. Turn-
ing from botany to commerce, I may state that a single tree
of the red cedar, cedrela Australis, will sometimes yield
30,000 feet of marketable timber.
TAMBOURINE MOUNTAIN.
WAS never near Tambourine Mountain in my life,
but I claim the merit of being the first to discover
its mission on this earth. Some old residents of
"-^ one class saw nothing but sugar -growing there,
others wei'e all for saw mills, but both missed
the real point of its merits — -namely, that of
being the finest climate on earth, and being the premier
sanatorium of Australia. It was this way : I found an old
Admiralty chart of Moreton Bay, and figured on it inland
was a three-cornered tabletop mountain (unnamed) showing
1,850ft. and 1,790ft. at its angles and buttresses. I saw at
a glance what a perfect climate it must possess, but where
was it 1 and -what was it called 1 So I took its Brisbane
bearings oii the map, and ascended some of our highest
hills (Mount Coot-tha, etc.) and did the same from there,
and, by a bit of amateur " triangulation," I found the
mysterious stranger was no other than Mount Tambourine,
of which I had often heard in the early Logan days. People
told me of its wonders, how that folks who went up for a
day were enchanted, and spent a week instead ; how others
ate themselves out of "house and home" and exhausted
their provisions long before their picnic time was over, all
owing to the glorious appetite engendered. I heard of little
children residents, fed chiefly on maize porridge, but rosy-
faced as Kentish "bairns;" of scrub soil 20ft. deep; of
orange ti-ees that you could cut a fishing-rod out of ; of
cedar trees that would build two houses; of geraniums that
TAMBOURINE MOUNTAIN. 373
would fill a room, and so forth ; and it all seemed quite
credible, for Tambourine Mountain is just where it should
be for a perfect health resort. Were it at Cape York it
would be too hot with its moderate elevation ; if at Cape
Howe it would be too bleak ; if ninety miles from the sea,
like Toowoomba (at the same height), it would be too vari-
able ; if I'azor-topped it would still have a view, but not be
habitable ; but as it is, it is perfection. In 28deg. south,
ten miles from the sea, fiat- topped, only moderate in area,
and nearly ■2,000ft. high, it is an exceptional wonder, and
no other place on earth like it ; but in pure air from below
and around its precipices it is equable in climate, unlike
what a larger tableland would be ; and were there even no
view at all from it, it would still be worth living and dying
on for the climate alone, and I envy the lucky people who,
fifty years hence (when it has been "civilised") will enjoy
life there.
The late Captain W. B. Brown was himself no poet, but
when he was up Tambourine he said, "Well ! neither painter
nor poet could do justice to this," as lie viewed the scene
from the north-east angle of the mount. I have, myself,
often enjoyed the view from the passes that border
Mount Mitchell, Spicer's Peak, and Cunningham's Gap, and
looking at the chaotic and beautiful peaks, which mark the
sources of the Clarence and Richmond Rivers, there is
nothing like it, that I have seen, in Tasmania or Eastern
Australia. But, Tambourine must beat it; for you have
all the grand mountains to the south and west, and also
(what you have not from the Main Range sites) the bay,
islands, and sea, and the homes and settlements of civilisa-
tion. With a good telescope, or field glass, you can discern,
on a fine day, the tawny north buttress of old Tambourine
glowing in the sun, and I have no doubt that much of the
outlyings of Brisbane can be seen, also, from there. Tani-
374
AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
bourine Mountain goes down pretty " sheer " on all sides,
though, of course, there are leading spurs of access up on
the north and east sides, and this is one of the secrets of its
grand and unapproached climate, which, it is to be hoped,,
will never be marred by any injudicious and overdone
destruction of timber, or it will become bleak, and arid, and
unsheltered, and lose half its charm ; clear away the scrub,
to some extent, by all means, but spare most of the big
timber or you will be sorry. Tambourine is a place where
you can enjoy a temperature of 6.5deg. and your blankets at
Christmas time, and, if the old Romans had had it, it would
have been converted into a magnificent high-level irrigation
reservoir (by gravitation), but I fancy Queensland will do
still better with it in the next century.
THE BRISBANE BOTANICAL GARDENS.
in their
susiirrus
HILE the western up-country stations are
y sometimes afflicted with an iron drouslit, our
^ eastern district is generally emerald green,
and least of all in our Botanic Gardens is
there any sign of the lack of needful moisture.
Not only pleasing to the eye, not only grateful
shade, and soothing for a lounge — while the
of the sleepless bamboos imparts an irresistible
pleasing drowsiness to the nerves — these gardens have their
multifarious and great uses, one of the highest of which is
the surrounding of many a poor little bush hut in the
suburbs with allamandas, lagerstrcemias, and other plants of
tropical beauty, which a duke's hothouse in England can
scarcely bring into flower. People cannot all afford a good
house, but they can all afford lovely flowei's in this climate ;
and slips from the Botanic Gardens, planted about Brisbane,
have grown into trees more beautiful, in some cases, owing
to richer soil, even than the original ones they came from.
Although not blessed with a tine outlook like that over
the harbour of Port Jackson, yet our gardens in themselves
surpass those of Sydney and Melbourne. We can grow all
the temperate zone plants as well as they can, while they
376 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
cannot approach us in the line of the tropical ones. They
can no more raise the purple lilac in Sydney than we can
here, while their attempts at the bamboo look ludicrous to
a Queenslander. One of their greatest successes in Sydney
gardens is the Manchineel, a very handsome, but, we believe,
poisonous tree, from Madagascar. Two interesting trees in
our gardens are suggestive of the Holy Land : one of these
is the fine, venerable, hoary old olive tree in the main avenue,
the other is the thorn of Judea, near the henna tree. A
fine shady evergreen, well-grown, noble -looking, pleasant
and profitable tree is this same olive ; and it is a pity there
are not wliole forests of it in our colony. The then Collec-
tor of Customs, Mr. Duncan, twenty years ago, lectured on
this topic, and had his advice been taken at the time, the
trees would now have been sometliing to look at and to
reap the benefit of. A curious contrast is presented by
the asparagus of England and the asparagus of Java. The
latter is a pretty flowering, sweet - scented creeper, the
very thing for children to weave garlands from. The
fragrant and beautiful Plumeria acutifolia, the sacred tomb
flower of Java, flourishes as bravely as ever, and is rapidly
becoming a tree in its proportions. It keeps steadily in
flower from November to May, and is clearly quite at home
in our climate. The cofiee berries are yet green, and
the cinnamon trees have not finished shooting out tender
leaves yet. Passing near the bamboos, and the drinking
fountain, we can travel, in fancy, from the Surrey lanes,
where flaxen-haired, rosy-cheeked girls abound, to the vol-
canic gorges of Honolulu, where the dusky, yet symmetrical,
damsels are attired in surplices of blue calico, or satin,
according to their rank in life, and the imaginary journey
is performed, in a few seconds, by simply rubbing a leaf of
tansy and holding it to the nose, which at once suggests
Surrey (or any other county you like) ; and then passing
THE BRISBANE BOTANICAL GARDENS. 377
on to the big alocasia, or taro, a gummy blue potato, or
turnip, on which nearly all Polynesia manages to keep its
ribs clothed with fat. That most delicious fruit, the date
plum, does not appear to grow well here, for we never see a
specimen of it for sale in any shop. The gardens show a
tine collection of the Melastonia, with its curious leaf, unlike
Any other, and its deep "Humboldt" violet Hower. A wild
pretty variety of this, the Melastoma Banksia, grows about
the hill side gullies, in the parish of Toombul, facing the
east. The Spanish Annato, so useful to cheesemakers, who
wish to send a well-colored article to market, is only in
flower as yet ; it is a very handsome tree, and its blossom is
fully to match in point of beauty. The Clerodendron
Nutans, from India, is a pretty drooping flower of a haw-
thorn type and color, to the unbotanical eye, but it is quite
destitute of scent ; not so, however, is the Clerodendron
Fragrans, which somewhat reminds us of the hydrangea in
appearance, and possesses all tlie refreshing fragrance, and
none of the pungency of the choicest smelling salts.
Near the foot of the hill some granadillas of eight pounds
weight each, and as big as a man's hand, are hidden amongst
the leaves of that variety of the passion flower. The henna
tree, as useful to the ladies of the east as belladonna and
kalydor are to our Western belles, diff"uses a sweet perfume
so long as you remain ten yards away from it, but a very
close proximity, between its blossoms and the olfactories,
discloses a sickly unpleasant odor. The thorn tree of Judea,
from which, it is reported that, the crown of thorns was
plaited, shows spikes of a moderate length only, and desti-
tute of much stifi'ness, and we should imagine that either
this is not the same tree, as is alluded to in the New Testa-
ment, or else that it does not take to this climate kindly.
The close of the floral season is at hand, but the still
warm days enable the waterlilies to resist the increasing
378 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
cliilliness of the nights. The mango and jack fruit are in
good, full fruit, considering thai they are so far away from
home, and though they have much of the flavor, they have
neither the overflowing juiciness nor the ponderous weight
they attain to in their native habitat. The Japanese
camphor tree is growing to a dimension that begins to rival
some of our gum trees, and the aromatic savor, of its twigs
and leaves, strongly remind us of the universal old eucalypt
of Australia, with its precious astringent gums, pungent
and solvent essential oils, and of the valuable heritage we
possess, in a country where it is so plentiful. The decadence
of the once splendid Poinciana regia, near the round bed, is
being atoned for by the vigorous growth and beauty of the
younger trees ; one by the Albert-street gate, and the other
by the aviary, where it stands just close enough to the
Brazilian rosewood to make us regret that they do not
exactly blossom at the same time of the year, in order that
we might make comparison of the scarlet and the lilac, side
by side, and see which of them bears the palm. On the
whole, we fancy, the Madagascar red surpasses the Brazilian
lilac, for it is set off by a green, so intense, and yet delicate
in color, that the somewhat more sombre verdancy of the
jacaranda leaf looks dull beside it.
And of the palms, we must say a word for the Cocos
flexuosa, of Brazil, which is equal to the Seaforthia Elegans
and the Cocos Plumosa for beauty, and which bears a fruit
pendant in bunches like elongated ears of bright tawny
yellow wheat, fully ripe.
When the sun has again crossed tlie line to the south.
Nature responds to his presence, and the plants of the tropics
are unfolding, and gladdening the eye with their unrivalled
beauty. October brings out the mimosa-leafed Jacaranda
tree of Brazil, a very gem of size and beauty combined.
It is not alone that it grows as tall as an oak, nor that its
THE BRISBANE BOTANICAL GARDENS. 379
leaf vies with the shamrock for verdure, and with the fern
for delicacy of shape, but its clusters of flowers have a color
that is neither mauve, lavender, lilac, nor violet, but like
them all, and more beautiful than any. They are marked
slightly with pure white inside, and I must not forget to
describe, if possible, their shape. First of all, they are
elaborately "scolloped" round the edges, and they have a
curved cornucopia shape, and droop, surpassing in graceful-
ness of outline any nepenthe campanula, or ixia that I have
ever seen. This tree is a conspicuous object half -a- mile
away. Its only rival in these gardens, the gorgeous Poin-
ciana Regia, of Madagascar, flowers in December. In
greenness and delicacy of its mimosa-like leaf, this latter
tree vies with, or surpasses, the Jacaranda ; its foliage shape
is dome-like, its spread great, and the dome-curve is observ-
able from beneath as well as from above. The flower is a
glorious scarlet, prettily marked with black and white, and,,
like the Jacaranda, it appears in huge clusters or sprays.
Either of these noble trees would be calculated to arrest the
notice and attention of people, who had never in their lives
before looked with interest at any botanic specimen, and, to
those who delight in floral beauty, they afford pleasure
beyond all description. This tree also, like the Poinciana,
strikes the eye at a great distance with its blaze of colour.
The cochineal insect is here at times busy at the cacti. The
caper shrub shows its berry here as well as on the Mediter-
ranean, The "wine" palm of Western Africa bears a fruit
as nice as the strawberry, and not unlike it in flavour, and
the talipot palm shows a sweet-scented spray of flowers.
The jutes and sunn hemps of India, are growing here on
the same bed with Irish flax, and it is hard to say which
looks the best. The "travellers' tree," of Madagascar, not
unlike a plantain to unbotanical eyes, affords a fine supply
of pure water if tajDped at the root of the leaves. Nothing
380
AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
can be more soothing on a warm day than the ceaseless rustle
of the breeze shaken bamboo clumps, which makes just
noise enough to sing one to sleep on
" The sweet siesta of a summer day,
The tropic afternoon of Moreton Bay."
But we must remember that Queensland is no country for
laziness, and this hive of bees on the lawn is not very sleepy
at all events. The sugar-cane, textile materials, coffee,
cotton, tea, etc., which are growing all round, serve to
remind us that repose is not the sole, but only an occasional
phase of existence, even in warm climates like ours. The
" silky oak " is in yellow flower, full of honey and of sweet
scent. The honey from this tree has an intoxicating efiect
on some of the little paroquets, which are easily caught
after a lone feast on it.
AUSTRALIA FEDERATED.
ERILY, 'tis a grand idea ! Not but that Dame
Nature made her all in one, at the outset, but she
had to be divided in order to be won and con-
quered. Divide et impera is an old adage. In
subduing the wilderness we had to save time by
instituting several central saps and points of
attack, at once ; and Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Bris-
bane, Rockhampton, and Townsville, have each spread out
their polypous arms of inland settlement on the more genial
southern and eastern shores of the continent, for it would
have taken too long to try and radiate the light of civilisation
from one depot alone. Hence the disruption into "colonies,"
which system will now soon have effected its work, and then
Dame Nature's sway must again be resumed — resumed, that
is, so far as unity of territory goes. For, be it remembered,
that the Darling andCondamine, in their onward flow, neither
know nor care, nor pause to ask, which is Queensland and
which New South Wales. The great Cordillera throws out,
lavishly, its gold reefs and its copper lodes, its veins of tin
and its dykes of iron, everywhere alike, and even as the
rain of Heaven, it recks not of blue books or boundaries ;
of orders in Council or diiferential tariffs. Nature knows
nothing of Border Customs or Legislative Halls ; of local
382 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
jealousies or commercial wire-pullings; but, on the contrary,
and so far from it, Tamworth cries out to the Barcoo, and
the sound is echoed to Gippsland and AVarrnamhool, even as
the forty millions of sheep and cattle answer each other's
bleatings and lowings, without a break, over three thousand
miles of hill and plain.
The shepherd kings, dwellers in bush palaces, meet and
traffic, and exchange productions ; and beeves are bartered
for ewes, and drovers travel from the Lynd to the Glenelg,
swarming to and fro in ceaseless caravans of peripatetic
wealth. There is a savor and a spirit of unison in all this,
leading us up inevitably to federation, whose inspiring angel
must eventually arise from the inland, when it triumphs, as
it must do in the end, over the schismatic counsel of the sea-
board cities, who know not, as they ought to do, of the
homogeneous continent, lying vast at their back. The sun-
tanned youthful heir of the Queensland cattle squatter marries
the blonde daughter of the New England sheep Croesus, and
her fair-bearded brother is, in turn, the husband of that glow-
ing brunette who will, one day, own half the stock on the
Loddon ; and shall their respective offspring have need to
wonder and enquire what petty country, or little colony,
they belong to 1 They would be called Australians, if
ti'avelling in Rome or Vienna ; so, why are they to be
differently kno\vn and designated while under the Southern
Cross 1 The Castlereagh and Talbragar people are allied to
the Snowy River folks ; it may be by marriage, by business
partnership, and by traffic in mild-eyed oxen and woolly
lambs. Such ties of blood and money overleap, and will
never long brook the restraint of mere departmental admini-
stration. The tendrils of trade, of love, and of matrimony,
are stretching out and taking hold, and family blood is inter-
mingling in all directions in New Holland, for there is an
interchange borderwise of thoroughbred people as well as of
AUSTRALIA FEDERATED. 383
blood horses, pedigree bulls, and stud sheep ; and, where
these ties bind, who shall separate 1 Viewed in this aspect
our venerable continent is rapidly being federated already
by the operations of daily human life, by the interchange of
material wealth, and by the mutual alliances of well-dowered
families. So, let our politicians coquette with the question
as they please, still to that complexion must it come at last.
They will find that nature and civilisation have combined
to forestall, and do their work for them, and all that Aus-
tralian cabinets will have to do will be, like the heavy father
in the play, to affirm gracefully wiiat they can no longer
make a show of retarding, and yield their consent to the
union of the young colonies who have, so to speak, long
since travelled to Gretna Green and back again.
THE GERATODUS.
.EARS ago I bathed daily in the Burnett River,
where the fish ceratodus, that relic of pre- Adamite
life still survives, and survives nowhere else in
(^ the world. In England you might see the fossil
"'''' remains of one imbedded in a marble mantel-
piece, part of the marble itself, so long, long ago
has it disappeared from life there. It has the gills of a fish,
and lungs also, like a sheep, when it is opened. It is rec-
koned that the ceratodus, a plump, full, round scaled, eatable
fish, died out in Europe 200,000 years ago. He grows in
the Burnett to 2|ft. long, and up to 121bs. in weight, and
the simple villagers there at Gayndah caught and ate him,
all unconscious of his status ; all ignorant that the Emperor
William of Germany had, as I have related, sent a special
savant to their village to bring specimens to Berlin. I saw
one dissected at the Brisbane Museum, and saw the weird,
uncanny lungs in the fish's chest. He is said to belong to
the Jurassic period, to be contemporary with the awful
Ichthyosa^irns, and still more awful Plesiosaurus and the
"wing finger" (beg pardon, the ptm-odactyl), all mere fossils
now, of the Mesozoic era. What human pedigree, dating
only half way to Adam, can compare with this ceratodus
family, which was old and her/an to die more than ttvo thou-
sand centuries ago, and had the job complete by that early
date, so far as the world outside of Australia was concerned ?
Queensland should surely have this fish on its coat of arms,
and no other place on earth could infringe the patent. Talk
of ancient heraldry, indeed ! after this. The dread and
legendary mystery of the bunyip, sacred to Australia only,
seems justi6ed and half explained now by the ceratodus.
THE WOMEN EOLK.
P OMELY, is she not*? in that j^retty uniform, and
with her smooth skin, good complexion, and
rounded, firm limbs ! What a partner she would
make in a waltz, now, or companion for a moonlit
stroll ! Gently, gently, enthusiastic male reader,
don't be in such a hurry to twine that arm of
yours round her waist, she would not appreciate it. No !
She has seen too many men of 80, or 90 years, swoon for
the^^rs;; time in their long, strong lives. She has inhaled,
too often, the odour of wounded human flesh in the militaiy
hospitals, after a great battle ; she has seen the ending of
too many lives, the scared and troubled faces that bore the
impress and memory of unrepented and unatoned misdeeds,
and so the "grand passion" is not in her line. And you
mibst believe it, too, if you take one intelligent glance at
that alert, kindly, bright, beautiful eye of hers. There are
plenty of girls and women in the world with her eyes, but
witliout the matchless expression which hers have so well
earned. For that can only be acquired and attained to in
such a life of devotedness as she has led. Many you '? oh !
yes, I daresay she would, and be a good nurse, too, when
needful. Marry you ? certainly, if she liked you, but you
would have to open up preliminary negotiations in some
different fashion from passing your arm round her waist
at the outset. Croyez voits mon enfant ?
z
386 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Female beauty is bound to come to the front against all
drawbacks. The present style of costume would have been
voted "theatrical" by our grandmothers in 1835, and it
certainly strives hard to set off every feminine charm and
attractiveness to the uttermost, from the high-heeled shoe —
with the maker's name in gold letters on the inner arch of
the sole — up to the little ears and white neck nape, exposed
to full view by the piling up of the hair (black, auburn, or
flaxen) high on the back of the head. All tliis is permis-
sible, though the said grandmothers thought it rude to even
expose the ears much, and wore no heels, and covered their
arms up with long gloves, and so forth. And how they
would have shuddered at the awful triangular slice of nudity
which is cut out at the back of the modern ball dress, and
I believe, too, that future generations will join in the repro-
bation of it. It is no matter how nun-like and modestly
and unfashionably you dress a pretty woman and her hair,
she ^oill attract notice, and the girls of 1835, with their
high waists, short skirts, elaborate sandals and lengthy
gloves, secured a larger percentage of husbands from the
gentlemen in plum - coloured swallowtails and nankeen
"tights," than do the "theatrical" damsels of the present
era from their swains. Let the poor things have their little
triumphs of dress by all means ; they have plenty (j^er
contra) to put up with. What would the men say if tlie
women turned out in armies of 20,000 or 30,000, and pro-
ceeded to fight and kill each other with "arms of precision?"
How they would howl at this " waste of good material," if
on no other ground. But how little they reck of or consult
the women's feelings, when they resolve to go to war them-
selves, and leave the females bereaved on all sides.
DESTINY.
^OW awful is the roar of the lion, heard in the
Jy^ forest at midnight! How impotent, weary of
^1^^' waitinij, uncouth, weird, eerie, uncivilized, uncon-
^i^v'M^ ventional ! So destitute of, so different, and so far
]^^^' from, the trained and modulated accents of society
^\^^ and diplomacy, of the disciplined repose that
"stamps the caste of Vere de Vere." How that roar haunts
one ! rouses one up ! seems to stir the conscience with the
voice of retribution ! for it appears to blurt out some terrible
truth of some unfinished crime, unheard of, undreamt of
Ijefore ; and all the more unwelcome from its startling new-
ness of revelation. The heart feels frozen with a guilty
terror at the thunder of that gruesome voice of the night, so
harsh, abrupt, so strong, yet so pitiful withal ; the cry of the
oppressed demon. It is not that the tawny agile brute
could crush you with its weight, that its muscles would
flatten you at a blow, that its teeth and claws could rend
you like a steel rag mill — it is not in all this that the chief
horror lies. The inarticulate loud cry of the soulless giant
cat is replete with a sadness, a tale of long-felt injustice, of
ages and aeons of dire suffering and oppression. A being
created by no will and for no wish of its own, sent into a hard
world, armed only with muscle, teeth, and claws, and a
quenchless hunger, with no gift of brains to mitigate the
doom, or reason to see or hew a way out of its life's burden
388 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
and life curse. No wonder it cries aloud, and that its voice
in that one sigh-cry carries to those who have ears to hear
withal a whole volume of bitter, pent up remonstrance, against
its cruel fate. Terror is all that it conveys to the other
animals, but the demi-god, semi-animal, man, can pity the
lesser animal whose tones can thus be analyzed as its cries to
God and man of its intolerable destiny. Yes, there can be no
doubt that the roar of the lion has a subtle sound in it, a
mysterious minor key that accuses some one. " The lions
roaring — do seek their meat from God" (so says King David)
and still, as one contemplates the massive red forearm, the
spreading claws, the terrible teeth, the fathomless, glowing,
yellow eyes, pity still holds her pride of place against fear
in the heart of the seer.
And it is not the void and hungry lion alone that raises
his awful voice in accusation and remonstrance with " Des-
tiny." The atheist, the scoffer, the " larrikin," he, too, has
a grievance. His "bitter cry" takes a different sound from
the lion, but it has the same basis. He does not roar, but
he writes what he thinks. It is useless to tell him that
there is a benevolent design in everything ; he laughs in your
face. What is it to him that the active lizard is "designed"
to catch the active fly 1 " What need " (he cries) "of either
of them"?" He sneers at the well-fed people who see
benevolence and purpose in all arrangements of Nature.
He admits some of it, of course, but he has eyes only for
what is " out of joint," and he wants to know who per-
mitted, or who caused, that. Why was he, the larrikin, left
to starve, in mind and body and soul, with not an opening
or chance in any direction that was not blocked for him or
his forefathers, centuries before he was born. He feels de-
serted and "left," and he summons his resolution and doubts
everything, at all events everything that is — or proposes to
be — good. Let those who are fed and taught and instructed
DESTINY. 389
testify as to how evil ever got loose at all. Why is a young man
sent into the world nnarmoured against the wiles of women;
why does he buy his armour and experience so dear and so
late in life? How much more useful it would be at 17 than
at 70; and so with the girl, why is she not born wiser about
the tricks of the men 1 Why is that bitter, useless, school,
kept by Dame Experience, the only scholastic establishment
available for youth of both sexes ? Why is not sentimental
Horace armed by Nature with the knowledge that pert
Celia's pretty pout and toss of the head are her instructive
methods of calling him, not of I'epelling him, and so leave
the poor fellow some show in the matter, in place of being
impelled and killed by his " love of approbation," to be
miserable aljout her imaginary scorn ?
THE BRITISH CAPITALIST.
HE British Capitalist, whom I will, for shortness
) sake, call " John Bull," is a strange fellow to
deal with, and it is quite a miracle if any one
, can get him to invest in Australian mining. He
M . . . . ?
'^i thinks himself very knowing, but the fact is, that
he generally " pitches on " when he ought to hold
1>ack, and holds back when he ought to "pitch on," as I
v.ill illustrate j^resently. If you talk to him about Aus-
ti-alian mines (and Queensland is Victoria, or Western
Australia "just over the way " to him), John Bull waves
liis hand loftily, and tells you of how utterly he failed in
tije one or tAvo solitary ventures he made, but you will not
hear a word from him about what he made elsewhere.
In 1849, I saw a fine instance of John BulFs perspicuity (*?)
1 was among the early voyagers to California, when gold
%\ as discovered. I saw ships from all parts, except England,
pouring in and reaping a golden harvest in their cargoes.
Erance, with her sardines, claret, cognacs, velvets, &c. Spain
with her sherry and raisins. America, of course, foremost
ii\ the dance (no ad valorem on her goods) ; and even Aus-
tralia well represented by active little hardwood brigs and
schooners from Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart Town, cfec, with
jams and onions, that realised, with apples and potatoes,
from 2s. 6d. to 10s. a lb. ; even Australia shared in the spoil.
But lofty John Bull "knew bettei', you know; he'd been
THE BRITISH CAPITALIST. 391
taken in before, and wasn't to be done like that," and so
forth. Well, if John Bull had only been consistent, one
might have respected him, even if disagreeing with his
views ; but, alas ! by-and-by, John Bull, as soon as the glut
and reaction took place in San Francisco, began to rub his
eyes and open them, and think there was something in it
after all, and so he shipped heavily, and lost all, and some
more ; in his usual nice way he swore, a deep oath, never to
go into tliis sort of thing again, and made the matter an
excuse, and a " precedent," for holding back on the next
opportunity for making money; but, of course, only till the
unfavorable time arrived, when he repeats the process.
John Bull was nearly as behind-hand when gold was found
in his territory of Australia, and he was the last person in
the world to believe in it. He always forgets, that those,
who venture early win in commerical matters. He will
consign recklessly to old-established and overstocked mar-
kets, but he shudders at the idea of shipping to a new and
untried one. Red tape is as rife in the counting-house as at
the Admiralty ; and it is a great pity, both for John Bull
and the young markets of the world for his capital, that he
is at once the richest and nearly the least enterprising
person on the face of the earth. He does not know, and
nothing possibly would drive it into his head, that he has a
dead certainty of making money at Gympie and Ravens-
wood, if he mined extensively and judiciously. The poor
fellow has, doubtless, been victimised in Victoria, which
cannot show a coal or a copper mine, and whose average
gold yield is below ours ; and who has capital enough, of
her own, for any really good thing within her own borders,
and only otfers the refuse to John Bull ; but all this is no
reason why the old gentleman should mistrust young
Queensland, who has not the money to follow up either gold,
copper, or any other mines, which would make the fortunes
392 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
of the people, in no time, if situated in countries with
capital at command. Of what use is a solid mountain of
.50 per cent, copper ore, without plenty of nioney to begin
operations with 1
But the root of the evil lies deeper ; it is not in the
alleged poverty of our gold-spangled reefs, or of our thick
copper lodes, both of which challenge the world, that the
drawback is to be sought for. Corruption and jobbery
unhappily obtain as freely in mining matters as they do in
Government departments, and John Bull is intinitely more
deficient in skilful and trustworthy professionals in the
mining science, whom he can send forth with confidence to
study his interests abroad, than Queensland is deficient in
rich metals, which, I again repeat, she can challenge the
world for. It has happened that John Bull has started a
mining company in Australia (I will not point out the
exact colony) entirely on his own capital, and the company
never paid expenses whilst he was proprietor ; but, as soon
as he sold out, it began to pay handsomely to the new and
colonial owners.
Some wiseacre would here interject : "Oh, but my dear
fellow, you know you can't expect John Bull to venture in
16,000 miles away, while your local lucky reefers on the
spot are afraid to speculate a mile away from where they
are for fear of being robbed ! " The reply to this is obvious.
The lucky reefer turns up his nose at a dividend which
would send John Bull wild with joy — viz., 20 per cent, per
annum on capital invested. The lucky reefer likes to buy a
claim for a bottle of grog to day, and to sell it a week after
for £.500. That's his style. As for trusting your employes,
that is a matter which any clever business man can encom-
pass, and the " smugging " of an odd specimen or two would
never affect the dividends much if economy in working were
the rule.
THE BRITISH CAPITALIST. 393
America is not frightened to risk capital in mining.
Witness the silver mine which has yielded millions in silver,
and to get at which, more favorably, they had to drive a
tunnel many miles long into the heart of a mountain, at
3,500 feet from its summit, in order to cut the lode.
Queensland is wide enough, and her laws ought to make
provision to accommodate, at the same time, the small
reefing parties and the mammoth companies, without clashing,
or interfering with each other. The latter will require, in
return for large investment of capital, the fi'eehold, or long
lease, of mining areas some miles square, or I fear we shall
not attract them hither, or make it worth their while.
'^#M-
BUSH PUBUG HOUSES.
N Queensland, the murders, properly so-called,
occasioned by the grog, improperly so-called, dis-
1^' pensed at the " bush hells " where kegs of new
^ rum containing a ground tier of figs of rank
new colonial tobacco, afford the best and speediest
means of maddening the brain and sickening the
stomach, with all the deep deadly anguish of outraged
nature, thus compelled to swallow and digest that which
it is a narcotic poison even to inhale — these murders,
coupled with a perusal of returns as to the crowded state of
our lunatic asylums, suggest enquiries as to how long this
triple murder of body, mind, and soul, is to escape the legis-
lator's lash. A bank robber, with crape mask and pistols,
is a gentleman, an angel almost, by the side of the vendor
of tobacco essence, and yet the former comes in for his full
share of police attention, proving thereby that "money" is
worth more than " life " in the eye of the law — in practice,
at any rate, if not in theory. Woogaroo Asylum contains
800 inmates, and it is not the only place of confinement for
lunatics in the colony. More than this, Queensland is a
wide and thinly-populated place, where a mad person, unless
specially obnoxious or dangerous, would not necessarily or
readily be immured within four walls for safety all round ;
so that the number of people, more or less lunatic, who are
at large in Queensland, cannot even be approximately esti-
mated; while in densely-populated England, the nuisance of
having anyone, ever so little mad, at liberty to trouble and
BUSH PUBLIC HOUSES. 395
annoy the busy working millions around, causes all such to-
be kept locked up and out of harm's way. Following up
this train of reflection, it would naturally occur to anyone
that the lunatic asylums of Great Britain should — or ought
to — contain a much larger percentage of the population than
those of Queensland, or Australia, do. Yet we scarcely
think that it can be proved that from 118,000 to 180,000
people are immured in mad-houses, or asylums for the insane,
in England, and yet that proof would have to be adduced
before we could truthfully assert that our percentage of
lunacy in Australia — or Queensland, at least — was no more
than that in England. We have to face the fact that nearly
■2'5 people of every thousand here are mad enough to be
locked up and kept at the public expense, to say nothing of
those who ought to be and are not so confined, which would
make the percentage look still more ugly by comparison.
Place these terrible figures side by side with the returns of
lunatics confined throughout the United Kingdom, and we
shall all be startled, if anything in Heaven or earth can
startle a legislature, a matter which may at times be doubted.
It is needless to enlarge upon the shai-e, or the monopoly,
rather, which the tobacco-steeped " grog " of these bush
publics enjoys in the creation of those shattered minds,
dethroned souls, and wild staring eyes of horror we so often
meet witli, where reason, health, and industrial productive
use ought to sit supreme and reign in their stead.
BYGONE QUEENSLAND PRESSMEN.
ILLIAM WILKS, who, in 1853, edited the
Courier, was a racy writer, and smart of speech
as well, with a holy horror of " High Church "
parsons, one of whom refused to read the
burial service over Wilks's little girl (dead of
scarlet fever) on the ground that he attended
the "Wesleyan Chapel. The following is a sketch by Wilks
in the Courier. In the early days of the Crimean war, a
sound was heard at noon in Brisbane as of heavy gun firing
down in the Bay (there was no traffic to drown noises then).
It was reported that an English and Russian frigate were
"fighting it out" somewhere near the Pile Lighthouse of
to-day, and expeditions to the back of One-tree Hill were at
once planned by the more timorous villagers, but it was
only a big boiler being rolled over at Kangaroo Point after
all, and Wilks put the whole matter into rhyme in the
Courier, thus :—
" To arms ! to arms ! " became the cry,
But peaceful cronies said " Not I,
To legs ! to legs ! let each one vie
With each, to scale the mountains high."
And land shark speculatoi's lly,
And corner lots forego.
BYGOXE QUEENSLAND PRESSMEN. 397
Till, ever true to his warlike name,
Terror-dispelling, the "Douglas" came.
At Kangaroo Point, where soap is made,
A monstrous boiler, used in the trade.
Was rolled along by men that I paid,
And, as it rolled, " Bong Bong " it gaed.
Which I deem has sufficed to alarm the blade
Who has frightened each man, boy, wife, and ujaid,
And so my innocent say is said,
And you're done extremely brown.
Sylvester Doig edited the Free Press^ and so did Robert
Me.ston. There was then no paper either in Ipswich or
Darling Downs, and I question if there was another journal
nearer than the Maitland Mercury. In 1855 Ipswich started
a newspaper under the Bays Bros., and comic sketches ap-
peared at the time from the pen of Lieutenant Nicoll. A
midnight "spree" of the 1858 period at an Ipswich hotel was
set forth in verse —
Three Benedicts, of furious mein, were foremost in the fray.
Two Bachelors, of aspect mild, by them were led astray.
and the ballad went on to say that —
Not to be beat, they brewed thsir punch
In Jack 's new hat
Made spatchcock of the parrot green.
And then clean shaved the cat.
It was a week before the race ball, and as they passed her
door it is reported that they heard a young lady from the
Darling Downs talking in her sleep at 2 a.m.
For as they passed the maiden's door
She murmured in her sleep,
" Mind ! nothing under twenty yards,
And make the flounces deep,"
which goes to prove, unless it all be a base fabrication, that
the damsels of 1858 were very like those of — a later era.
398 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Separation soon followed, and newspapers multiplied. John
Kent, erst of the commissariat department, was at one time
(he landed here about 1S40) in a position analogous to that
of Government Resident in Brisbane, but in the late "fifties"
he edited the Ipswich paper, and was a pungent writer (in
the Thady O'Kane style). When Sir George Bowen first
landed. Solicitor (now Judge) Clnibb, of Ij^swich, published
an ode of welcome to him, which drew from Kent a comment
on the needless cruelty of administering an emetic to a
recently seasick man, and wlien the first Upper House was
gazetted in 1860, Kent prefaced a terrific leader and
followed up a list of them with the line —
And the baldest held his breath for a time
(from Campbell's "Battle of the Baltic").
T. P. Pugh was a trenchant political writer when he edited
the Courier, and a vain attempt was made by the Tory party
to prosecute and crush him at the time. Searle then
appeared upon the scene, and, writing under the name of
" William Nutts," soon gave the public a pr-oof of his comic
powers. He was specially happy in his poetic delineations
of the feud between Judge Lutwyche and Colonial Secretary
Herbert, in one of which the latter chafls the Judge on
being "sacked" for meddling with politics, which evoked
from " Alfred James Peter " the couplet —
The subtle wiles of your revengeful crew
Misguided youth I deprived me of my " screw."
I remember, one evening, at the club in Ipswich, during
circuit time, and when we were alone after dinner, I "made
bold" to ask his Honour how he liked Searle's latest "skit."
He (the Judge) laughed heartily, and said that he enjoyed
it amazingly, especially the line —
Ye gods ! my wratli assuage,
BYGONE QUEENSLAND PRESSMEN. 399
which he proceeded to recite with heroic intonation. It was
supposed to be spoken in reply to some of Herbert's cruel
chaff. Judge Lutwyche always was manly enough to take
a joke in good part. Searle afterwards came out with a
duet parody on " Polly Hopkins."
Herbert.
Well my ancient, portly buffer,
How do you do — oo, how do you do — oo ?
Lutwyche.
All serene and up to snuff — ah ?
So are not you — oo, so are not you.
Herbert.
If you don't mind your p's and q's, sir,
We'll dock your screw — oo, we'll dock your screw — oo.
Lutwyche.
To vote it now you daren't refuse, sir,
Of thousands two — oo, of thousands two.
Herbert and Lutwyche were enthusiastic prize poultry
breeders, and met on common friendly ground in the halls
where black Spaniards and gray Dorkings competed ; and
the poem winds up with a reconciliation scene, of which the
chorus (still to the same tune) is sung by Herbert and
Lutwyche in a duet — •
Let's go fee — eed !
And poultry bree — eed !
dearie teas irresistible beyond a doubt. Then blossomed
out Walter Cooper with his comic sketches of the early
Queensland members, many of whom he photographed and
lampooned in print under borrowed names. He was versa-
tile, and could give a good imitation of Captain Feez in
" Come where my love lies dreaming," picked up at Rock-
hampton in 1863. When he went to Sydney he made
enemies by his very epigrammatic summing up of the people
400 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
who " saved their souls in Pitt-street and their bodies in
King-street," alluding to the chapel in one place and the
Bankruptcy Court in the other one. George Hall (" Bohe-
mian ") was a man whom it was a treat to hear read aloud
in some of Artemus "Ward's sketches ; he always dryly put
the right accent in the right place, never laughed himself,
but made you and every one else do it very much. (I often
have wondered who "Zadriel" was whom George Hall used
to publish letters from). Bohm was a newspaper man whom
one always met at the committee and betting meetings before
the races. He and a certain lawyer's clerk were admirers-
of the fair daughter of an Ipswich hotelkeeper. Bohm
married her ; the other one killed himself. D. F. T. Jones
was on the Courier in 1864, and wrote many a racy article,
notably one of a trip to Gympie in 1867. L. J. Byrne, in
1863, was the Brisbane correspondent of some Victorian
papers.
Wm. O'Carroll, who left us in the cold winter of 1885,
was long ago a conspicuous and worthy figure in Queensland
journalism, a genial editor, full of the brotherhood of the
craft, kindly and helpful to juniors, bold as a lion, comic as
Punch ; his crisp and incisive " specialities " could scarce be
distinguished from the " best brands " of Traill and Brun-
ton Stephens. This review is not meant to come down to
later dates. There were in the old times other and more
ephemeral pressmen, who cannot all be here noted. In
1855, the Rev. "W. Smith (Baptist) wrote leaders for the
Courier, and headed one of them " Blue Sky," in refei^ence
to a recovery which Moreton Bay was then suffering from a
monetary collapse. We had our little booms and reactions
even then, but it was on a small scale, and only when the
"New South" put on the "screw" for a trifle of £20,000
or so that the village of Brisbane owed it. The article
headed " Blue Sky " was responded to in the opposition
BYGONE QUEENSLAND PRESSMEN. 401
paper by one headed " Sky Blue." A very little sufficed in
those days to get the " screw " put on. In this case the
owner of a waterside property in South Brisbane advertised
it for sale, with a footnote that a portion of the purchase
money (naming a balance equal to three times the market
value of the whole) could remain " on mortgage." This
roused the ire and jealousy of a Sydney bank director who
owned land near it, and a travelling inspector came down
to call in the money due by " those inflated Moreton Bay
fellows," and to restore them to a sense of the financial
realities of life, and wake them from their silly dreams ;
and Geoffrey Eagar was the ambassador who came to " fix
matters up." The "Blue Sky" was the return of the tide
after his departure.
Verily, there is nothing new under the sun ! only our
creditors were all in Sydney in 1855, in place of being scat-
tered over the world as at present. Thomas Woodward
Hill was, perhaps, the last survivor of the old " comps."
who wore the black calico apron at the same time that John
Fairfax and Samuel Bennett did, in the days when piece
work was introduced, and a draughts board was kept under
the "frames" to relieve the tedium of the frequent intervals
of work in the long ago, when Sir George Gipps was the
Imperial Proconsul of Australia.
2a
ON A GORAL ISLE/
TART not ! Yawn not ! This is not going to
be any hackneyed, twice-told tale of shipwreck,
althougii there ivere eighty of us on board the
" Eudora," barque, bound from Hobart Town,
December 18th, 1849, for the new golden land of
California, then just annexed from the Mexicans
by Uncle Sam. I had but landed from London some two
months before, and the gorgeous panorama of Hobart Town,
glowing, a la Naples, in the sun, backed up by snowy Mount
Wellington and the stupendous "organ pipes," and looking
like some rich-toned drop-scene at Drury Lane or the Lyceum,
had first greeted my eyesight in glorious mid-October, and
almost made me cease to regret the Regent-street and Covent
Garden, the Lea River and Epping Forest, and the "Ocean"
(84 guns), lying, a thing of beauty and of might, as guard-
ship two-decker at the limpid anchorage of Sheerness, all of
which matters and more, I had left behind me for ever. I
had little time, however, for sentiment in those days, and
being ofi'ered the supercargo's berth on board the "Eudora,"
laden with "notions" in the shape of timber, shop fronts,
* This paper is an old friend in a new dress. The event was treated bj' Mr.
Bartley in his book " Opals and Abates," lint, by comparison, the pen picture there
<1epicted is but indifferently drawn. "On a Coral Isle" is certainly one of Mr,
Bartley 's choicest bits of descriptive writing.— Editor.
ON A CORAL ISLE. 403
cottages, jams, potatoes, and onions from thrifty Hobart
Town to a market where onions — glorious news ! — were a
dollar, and "spuds" a "quarter" per lb., I took the office at
once when offered, and went in search of fresh scenes and
adventures. Cabin, steerage, and crew made up eighty of
us, and we sailed, and we sailed, and we sailed, till we made
the Snares, the only bit of New Zealand that has hitherto
greeted my eyes, and forming the extreme south of the
group. "We had left Hobart Town short of our full supply
of water, intending to call in at the Maori Land and fill up
our tanks, for water is good and plentiful at that shop ; but
there was blowing such a spanking south-wester and fair
wind, as we passed, that we resolved not to lose it, but to
run on to Tahiti, and there to get the needful aqua pura.
But not long after this there arose a tempestuous wind,
and, like the Euroclydon, from the north, with just a taste
of easting about it, and that too ere we were far from the
latitude of Cape "Maria Van Diemen," and so we found we
were "in for it." For three weeks in the month of January,
1850, and under a vertical sun, just within the limit of the
Southern Tropic, we were on short allowance of water,
coming down at last to a pint and a-half per day, served out
on the poop daily at 9 a.m. to all hands, fore and aft. I am
not a thirsty soul myself, and it troubled me very little ;
but our doctor, a brother of Eusebius Lloyd, sometime of
"Bartholomew's," London, was a man who liked his "pawnee"
and he suffered greatly ; and some of us, who were able to
bear it, used to subscribe a few gills apiece daily to help the
"weaker brethren." It was rather melancholy, though, to
hear the little babies at night, through the cabin bulkhead,
say in their sleep, "Drint of yorter, ma." There came a
shower one midnight, and we hung pickle bottles on the
mizen belaying-pins and caught some water for the poor
doctor's "hot coppers." At last, when but ten inches of
404 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
fluid remained in the last tank, we sailed into Otaheite's
fairy bay. It was a bit of a jump for me, from Regent-
street to the land of bread fruit, Captain Cook, and maitai
wahinis, or beautiful girls, not to say gloriously handsome
men too, all in a few months. It was just like stepping
into Loddige's nursery at Hackney, or the Palm House at
Kew, as far as the temperature and damp, warm feeling
went ; there was a faint odour of guavas and oranges
hanging about everywhere, a pleasant murmur from the
coral reefs, and a still fainter hum from the mosquitos ;
there was the full ti'opical beauty of India, multiplied by at
least three, and with all the ])er contra tiger and cobra
business totally eliminated. Otaheite was pronounced a.
thorough success by all hands, fore and aft. The music of
the French men-of-war and military bands was good ; the
cookery at the hotel was masterly, and they had a way of
putting tomatoes, onions, and vinegar together in a frying-
pan, in a style that no benighted Britisher clipf can ever
hope to approach. No ! the Frenchman's mission is to cook,
and John Bull's department is to eat, ask no questions, and
be thankful. Bnt Otaheite has its scenery as well as the
handsome men and small-eared women of a.d. 1850. Those
last possibly are not there now ; but the cascades and the
forests of the interior remain for ever. So a party of us set
out to explore, and to find the place where the spry little
French soldiers had carried ladders unsuspected to the back
of the Otaheitean's last central eyrie and fastness in the
island, erst impregnable to all Polynesian warfare, invulner-
able also to artillery and siege, but not so to ladders,
skilfully used by cat-like Zouaves.
We were four in party : Wales, the son of the police
magistrate of Morven, Tasmania ; Turner, a surveyor ;
Tillet, a cotton-bi^oker from Liverpool, and myself. We
crossed and recrossed, as we ran it up to its source, a
ON A CORAL ISLE. 405
beautiful pellucid river, eighty feet wide and a yard deep ;
we admired the prolific forest, full of wild ginger, sweet
oranges, limes, mammee apples, and noble timber trees of
unknown botanical genera ; and we came at last to the Pah
Fattawah, the key of the island, 3,600 feet above the sea,
garrisoned by a lieutenant and a hundred men, and full in
view of one of the finest cataracts in the world, made by
the aforesaid river as it leapt, clean and clear, 700 feet over
a straight wide wall of rock, on its way down from the
central peak of the island, which we had no time to explore,
and high over which hovered a solitary tropic bird with its
single long feather tail. The French officer '' shouted "
cognac, and told us how they took the island, not without
heavy loss, as the monument of the dead sailors and marines
of " L'Uraine " testifies. That was, I think, the name of
the frigate which bore the brunt of the fray. We got back
to Papieete, admired Hort's store, and the state canoe of
Queen Pomare, 70 feet long, and also her good-looking
young liusband. We saw the land breeze cut ofi:' and blow
seaward -the head of each roller, as old ocean ceased not,
day and night, to assault the guardian reef of enchanted
Tahiti. We bought a cheap hogshead of divine claret, such
as in Sydney not even four sovereigns a dozen would secure;
a claret you could drink out of tea cups and never know
the difference, for it wanted no coddling in this, that, or
the other shaped glass. We hobnobbed with some ancient
dep]iantiasis-n.^\cted chiefs, who said they remembered
Captain Cook in their youth. Goodne.ss knows ! they looked
old enough and grey enough to have done so, and it was
then only seventy-two years since he had fallen mortally
under the shadow of Mauna Loa, in Owhyhee, further
north. We sailed away from Tahiti; we met the "Herald"
frigate, Captain Kellett, fresh from a fruitless search up
Behring's Straits after Sir John Franklin. We met Ben
406 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
Boyd in his yacht, the " Wanderer," witli a long brass
eighteen amidships, and with a sumptuous cabin and piano,
curtains and sofas, and bookshelves, fore and aft of the
Avhole schooner. Ben Boyd of the Royal Bank and Twofold
Bay was the man I mean^ — the Ben Boyd of 184:3 — and we
were about the last white people who saw him alive, for he
was massacred at the Solomon Islands before he could see
Australia again. I climbed the topgallant-yard of the
" Eudora " to admire the conical peaks of beautiful Eimeo,
sister island to Tahiti, and full of the same sugar-loaf
rocks — 1,000 feet high, and covered with moss and wild
creeping flowers from base to summit — which adorn the
road to the Pah Fattawah. Noble-looking young men came
off to us in canoes and traded us some wonderful pearl fish-
hooks, and we had sailed onward and northward from
Otaheite for eight degrees, when at night the " shipmen
deemed that we drew nigh to some island," for, strange
sight, a very legion of birds, of large size as well as small,
loaded every yard and spar on our barque ; and where did
they come from 1 was the question asked on all sides. We
got out the chart, and found that " Caroline Island, dis-
covered by the English in 1795," was just ahead of us. So
solitary, so out of the usual track of all ships, was the isle,
that the birds came off to see the unwonted intruders. They
all went back before morning, however, and by daylight the
island loomed green and right ahead of us, and as we were
short of fresh meat, though with plenty of oranges and
cocoa-nuts on board, volunteers were asked for to go in the
boat and shoot pigs and goats, if any, on this wonderful,
lonely, Robinson Crusoe island, that had sent forth its birds
to greet us so strangely. Eight of us embarked in the
dingy, a sqnare-sterned, sixteen-foot affair, the eight inclu-
ding three of the crew, one of whom was " Rotumah " Tom,
and five passengers, viz. : — Mr. Irwin (who had his family
ON A CORAL ISLE. 407
on board), Wales, Guthrie, Turner, and myself. We, and
our guns, made the boat swim very deep, and well for us
was it that the sea was smooth, but we made for the island
con aniore, and a big roller at the edge of the reef caught
us fairly on the stern, and sent us flying up the beach. We
jumped out, and soon walked the boat up to the water's
edge and landed. The shallow water was all coral, and
beautiful shells at the bottom ; but, on shore, there were no
trees except mangroves ; no soil, no water, all coral ; no
animals, but birds galore to make up for it all ; lovely pure
white cranes with crimson rufis round their throats, birds
like small albatrosses, thousands of birds, all so tame and
numerous that you could run in among them and they would
scarcely rise ; and, if they did rise, you could catch one in
each hand as easily as with the gnats, on a summer eve, by
the brookside, in our buttercup and daisy lanes of Waltham-
stow and Essex. Their eggs covered the ground like hail-
stones after a storm, and it was clear that nothing tliere
living had ever seen man's face before.
Well, after a few hours or so of gathering spoils and
curiosities, we resolved to go aboard again, and we faced
the rollers on a fallen tide, which we found to be a different
game from running in before them, especially as ours was
not a whaleboat. The island was one of those solitary
rings of coral, with a shallow sea lagoon in the centre, and
a shallow fringe of water to the edge of the circular reef,
which was here red and hard as granite, and went down to
the ocean's bed plump all round, perpendicular a thousand
fathoms ; and when, at low water, the sea receded from the
edge of the rock, a fearful gulf yawned between, as the
returning thirty-foot breaker came roaring back to cover
the dripping, bright, red scarp once more. Imagine, then,
our flat-bottomed, deep-laden, square dingy facing this "little
lot ! " At the first essay we broached to, tilled, and had
408 AUSTRALIAN PIONKERS AND REMINISCENCES.
to go back and bale. Some of us now took off clothes and
boots, expecting a swim for life at next attempt. All our
guns, pistols, and powder were thoroughly wet. and I even
lost my hat. At the next essay we nearly got through, but
one of the oars broke, and again the surf beat us back.
Those who had taken off clothes regretted it, for their gar-
ments were all washed away. I could not swim a yard and
so did not strip, but I sat in the nose of the boat at our
third mad effort to break through a coral surf at low-water
in a deep-laden dingy, a task which was only fitted for a
flying, light, and well-manned whaleboat, properly steered
with the powerful lever of a thirty-foot oar, and that, too,
only at high water ; but greenhorns, you know, will face
any danger. Well, at our third attempt we got clear, for a
moment, of the reef, and as we climbed the side of the lofty
roller that was just going to curl over, I looked with horror
at the red coral edge high above us behind, and the green
curler high above us in front. I realised our fearful position,
and the risk of being crushed between tlie wall of water
and the wall of rock. The tide was falling all this time,
and nature seemed angry at our third dogged rush. Sus-
pense did not last long, however ; the wave rose, barely
covered the red bastion, lifted us without our striking the
rock, and turned us over endways, shooting us out, like a
sack of coals, on the top of each other in the water. I fell
on Wales, who was swimming prettily on his back, and kept
me up finely. Mr. Irwin, who had lost almost all his
clothes, here caught his foot in a crevice of the coral, and
was nearly overtaken by the next sea, but extricated him-
self just in time. The boat righted as she came down, and
bumped a hole in herself on a coral boulder, so there was,
happily, no more chance of our renewing our mad tempta-
tions of Providence. W^e grasped the dingy's gunwale, let
each sea lift us and float us gradually ashore, and were soon
ON A CORAL ISLE. 409
back at the beach again, where we spread ourselves out,
thirty feet apart, so that the people on board the " Eudora,"
which was now standing close in, might, if they chose, see
that we were all safe. My light-rowing experiences on the
placid Lea — sacred to crack " rodsters," beguiling fat bream,
chub, and barbel under the poUared willows of dear old
Broxbourne — had barely prepared me (then still in my
'* teens ") for this heavy boat work amongst coral reefs ;
but I picked the art up soon, and I saved — by towing a
longboat to the scene of disaster — all the sails, stores, and
band of a thousand-ton New York and Havre liner, burnt
in the Bay of San Francisco not long after. But all this is
by the way. At present we are on Caroline Island, and it
does not appear by any means clear how we are to get off
from it again.
I had read of
The sweet siesta of a summer's day,
The tiopic afternoon of Tooboonai ;
but did not quite realise it here ; still it was evident that
we must pass the night on shore, at any rate ; our position
was unpleasant ; we were very thirsty, having swallowed
more than quant, suff. of salt water, and yet there was
nothing to drink. We longed for the claret-cup of Black-
wall and Greenwich, and even the humble ginger-pop of
Hobart Town would have been " accepted at sight." But
there was nothing for it but to suck raw eggs, which are
not a thirst-quencher. Rotumah Tom rubbed sticks and lit
a fire, and we dug up and roasted a few turtle's eggs, but
they sadly wanted washing down. I slept in the boat, and
so escaped the polite attentions of the land-crabs, and had
only the mosquitos to deal with. Some of us who had lost
boots and " breeks " alike, found out that large carnivorous
crabs, on the seabeach of a tropical island, experimenting
410 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
at night on unwonted human flesh, were worse than anj
fleas ever invented. So passed the darkness away, and in
the morning Guthrie and I had an early bathe at day dawn,
regardless of a few minor seven-foot sharks who swam near
us in the shallow water, flecked with shells of Tyrian purple,
pink and all hues, lying at the bottom of its clear pale green.
By the way, how I do love sea shells ! beautiful fresh ones ;
they never grow old, but are the same to-day on the shores
of Sandgate, Manly, or Queenseliff, as they were on the
Mediterranean beach in the gilded days of Antony and
Cleopatra. I well remember a little gem picture, by Gerard
Douw ; only three shells on a strip of sand, with a bit of
seaweed among them ; and yet, what an idyll they seemed
to sing about cool briny breezes, of green surges ever roaring
out their diapason lullaby, with its soothing sense of drowsy
comfort for the nerve-worn pen-toiler, or sick bushman,
bidding him cast his care to the winds, and go in for dinner
at the Pier Hotel, and try the rock cod and boiled schnapper
with oyster sauce, washed down by the Verdeilho and
Reisling of Australia, or the Rudesheimer of the Rhine ;
after which, he might stroll forth once more, seat him on
some weedy rock, what time the tide came in ; and, as he
watched the crabs all " skedaddle " and the octojms change
its matchless colours, and while he gazed to the bottom of
the clear shallow wavelets around him, he might well raise
his hat, and ask himself, what great good he had ever done,
or evil left undone, that lie should be so blest in his sur-
roundings, at this most pleasant of all spots, that one where
sea and land meet, and " mutually improve " each other.
But I am digressing, and must hie me to the island again.
Well ! after Guthrie and I had bathed, Rotumah and I
went to look for water. He dug a hole in a particular part
of the sand, and it tilled presently with a milky-looking sort
of fluid, fresh enough to quench thirst, but still " for a' that ""
(
ON A CORAL ISLK. 41 li
not the kind of drink which an old Indian staff-surgeon, who-
understood troops and dysentery, would prescribe in any-
thing like quantity. We drank some shellsful of it, and
then returned to tell our companions of the discovery, when
lo ! we found Captain Gourlay, of the " Eudora," had come
ashore in the whaleboat with two hands ; and he wanted
to know why we stopped spreeing on shore all night. We
wanted to know why he had brought us nothing to eat, and
whilst we were palavering and telling him of our mishaps,,
we all became suddenly conscious of a group of people,
bearing a white flag, approaching us, and just visible on a
point of the island where it trended north-east. Here was
a discovery ; the island inhabited, possibly by enemies, and
not an ounce of dry powder in the crowd I But, as I said^
th((t was no reason why we should let them know it, so I
tied a red kerchief round my head, stuck two horse pistols in
my belt, gave my old Sierra Leone rifle to Wales, who had the
previous day been "potting" birds at long ranges therewith^
and we strode up, eleven in number, to meet "the enemy."
On Hearing the group we found it to consist of only three
persons, the principal one of whom was a most striking and
Robinson-Crusoe-looking personage, burnt a darkcottee colour
by the sun ; his clothes in tatters, and kept on by pieces of
string tied here and there ; and with a long beard, and boots
in the very last stage of dilapidation. We asked him who-
he was, and how he got there. He explained that he was an
American sailor, named Lewis, and was left on the island
by the Tahitian firm of Lewsett and Colley, to make cocoa
nut oil for them ; they sent a schooner, once a year, for
the produce, allowed him 400 dollars per annum for wages,.
and all his rations and clothes, needles, canvas, <fec. ; the
two men with him, he said, were natives of the Chain Islands,,
a neighbouring group ; and he had, at the other side of the
island, a cocoanut plantation on fairly rich soil.
412 AUSTRALIAX PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
He and his two men had each a girl-wife, from the same
group, the youngest and prettiest being, of course, assigned
to the old Yankee. He accounted for his weather-worn
attire by telling us that the schooner would be due in a
month to take away the oil, and bring him his fresh supply
of wages, rations, and clothes ; he was now " out of every-
thing except tobacco and tea ; no biscuit, flour, needles,
sugar, canvas, vinegar, &c., on hand. He said the island
was a ring of coral (sometimes called an " atoll ") with a
shallow sea lagoon, just wadeable, in its ceritre, and that
there was, as is usual on all these islands, a smooth water
break in the reef where a boat could come in and out, but
this was opposite his place and near the cocoanut plantation,
and away on the opposite side of the (circular) island to
where we now were ; it was half a mile " thick " all round,
from inner to outer beach. His advice to us was, that the
Captain should go back aboard the " Eudora " and take her
round to his place, that two sailors should walk the broken
and stove boat round by the shallow water on the beach, to
the channel, and take advantage of the smooth water
passage to tow- her out ; and that the rest of us should wade
with him across the lagoon, on a bee line to his homestead.
We agreed thereto, and set out to wade, in the course of
which proceeding we made some discoveries; the bottom was
clearly visible, at a depth of from two to four feet, and con-
sisted of the loveliest coral, such as we Brisbanites buy to
put under glass cases ; brain coral, stags' horns, lettuce
coral, ike. ; it had a fine cutting edge on some of it, and
those of us who were bootless had to watch their footsteps.
T had Wellington boots, my only shortcoming being in the
hat line, but I was little, if any, better off than the bare-
footed ones, for the labour of lifting some ten pounds of
water, at every step, " totted up " considerably in a five
mile wade, and seemed to wrench my legs off. Immense
ON A CORAL ISLE. 413-
clams laid picturesque at the bottom of the water with their
mouths open ; a good old sort, about 400 lbs. weight apiece,
and equally ready to take off the leg, or the head, of any
unwary intruder, between the serrated edges of those bivalve
Ti'idacnas.
There are heaps of these fellows on the Queensland
Barrier Reef. I have one, myself, of three hundred weight,.
the "oyster" from which weighed just forty-five pounds,,
but these are as nothing to the old gentleman (from the
" keys " of the West Indies) whose upright shells once
guarded, like Gog and Magog, each side of the doorway at
an oyster shop in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. He weighed
six hundred pounds in his life time, and is, in his turn, sur-
passed by the king of all the Tridacnas, who holds his court
on an island in Torres' Straits, and is estimated at fully
half-a-ton, and whom no one has yet ventured to disturb.
But, all this time, we were following Lewis and the two
Chain Island " boys " towards the now fast nearing, and
particularly welcome, cocoa grove, and just as I thought I
could not lift another leg, so terrible was the strain of the
few pounds of water, raised at every step, of this weary
five miles in the water, and with a sun overhead that made
poor Mr. Irwin cry out with the pain of his blistered legs
and thighs, just then we emerged from the lagoon and,
clasped the stems of the cocoa palms ; up went Rotumah
Tom, and the two Chain Islanders, and down came the
green nuts, and " drinks-round " was the one idea.
We " Eudoras " were thirsty, none of us, except Tom and
myself, having drunk aught but half-a-gallon of sea water
each, for nearly thirty-six hours. I don't know how many
" cocoas " the others emptied, but I know that seven of
them, each with a good tumbler full of milk inside, barely
satisfied me, for that long wade had been the most killing
job of all for us ; and now we strolled over to Lewis' home-
414 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
stead, a comfortable thatched abode, with a square hole of
'clear fresh water hollowed in the solid coral rock near it,
the pool well garnished with wholesome green moss, at the
■side and top, and looking home-like and normal as a reser-
voir or tank.
We were next introduced to the three voluptuous looking
•Chain Island girls, whose eyes and lashes were a " caution."
I have never seen black fire, and yet, if fire could be black,
it would shine through such eyes as these ; and, if this
:should fail to convey the idea of them, then let the reader
imagine a clear amber, deepening in darker shade, by suc-
cesive degrees, till it threatens to merge at last, in pure
Idack, and arrested just hf^fore the beautiful brown lustre
disappears, and he will have the eyes of these girls before
him. The men's optics were scarcely less brilliant, but
^mallei', and without the female wealth of eyelash.
In other respects these children of the South Pacific were
less handsome in feature, and form, than the perfect Greek
gods, and fairy-footed goddesses, who were still to be found
in Eimeo and Tahiti, in 1850; but, if you come to eyes, why,
then I never saw dark eyes, at any rate, like those the Chain
Island girls had.
How great a pity it is that these nymphs, who are beauti-
ful, and look clever enough to be the mothers of a race of
Tennysons and Byrons, should, by their generally libidinous
nature, be the easy pi'ey of any low European sailor. But,
we were, now that thirst was satisfied, most confoundedly
hungry, a matter which caused the untimely death of a
small pig, whom I should most willingly have helped to eat,
but for the fact of his being cooked on that vile, smoky,
Maori, subterranean fashion of hot stones and leaves,
^luch more palatable, in every way, were some jew and
parrot fish, which one of the boys, taking his outrigger
•canoe to the smooth water channel, hooked and brought in.
ON A CORAL ISLE 415
and for which there was no lack of lard to fry them, in this
isle of pumpkins, cocoa palms, and pigs. And now, just as
we had finished, there " arrove " the Captain, who had
brought the whale-boat through the break in the reef, and
eke a consignment of corned beef, bread, rum, &c.
I did not stay to witness the scene, though I heard, sub-
sequently, that old Lewis, overcome by the unwonted rum,
" made a night " of it, but Mr. Irwin and I, now that there
was a respectable smooth water passage, to be availed of,
and a decent whale-boat to go in, responded to the skipper's
invitation for volunteers to return to tlie ship. I had, pro
tern., had enough of the island, in brief I was " full " about
it. I longed for some more congenial spot, where licensed
watermen's boats plied, and where quays and jetties rendered
embarkation and debarkation somewhat less of a harlequin
and acrobatic style of business, than appeared to be the case
in these intertropical paradises of coral and cocoa palms.
Captain Gourlay had told the chief mate to show a lantern
at the gaff of the " Eudora," so that, if any of us came off
at night, in the whale-boat, we might not miss the ship ; so,
believing all to be right, we got one of the Chain Island
boys to to take a lamp in his outrigger and pilot us through
the deep channel, for it was now dark, and there we were,
Mr. Irwin and myself, with Captain Gourlay and a couple
of hands, out at sea and making for the old barque once
more. Poor Irwin groaned sadly as the rolling, and pitching,
of the boat made his tender skin sensible of the ravages
tlie sun had made on it, and then, to our disgust, the Cap-
tain said he could not see the ship's light, and the other
light, carried by the island boy pilot, we had long since left
behind us ; and so, here we were, out at sea, out of sight of
the island and sliip as well ; in an open boat, at night, and
with neither food, nor water, chart nor compass, in the
boat.
416 AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
I began to debate, with myself, if this little difficulty
were not worse even than the island itself, and was rapidly
coming to the conclusion that we had, so to speak, quitted
the frying pan for a tour into the fire, when lo ! the skipper
" spotted " for a brief second, a light, far away on the
horizon, and he, sailor-like, rapidly noting the star, which
sailed just above it, in the sky, steered us for that star, and
the result was that, after a long pull, we found ourselves
right under the beam of the '' Eudora," which had just "put
about " to stand in for the island again.
The light, we had seen, was Mrs. Guthrie's candle in the
starboard stern cabin (mine was the larboard one). She
had left the window open, as the night was warm, and but
for this fact, it is doubtful if we five in the whale-boat,
would ever have seen island or ship again, and our fate, in
a bare empty open boat in that lonely ocean, and at that
time of year, is not pleasant to speculate upon ; for, be it
known, that the mate neglected to hang the lantern at the
gafi^, thoughtless of the lives his disobedience of orders
might have cost, and it was only Mrs. Guthrie's sperm candle
illuminating a cabin, that lit us across the deep.
I don't know what the Captain said to the mate on the
subject, for I seized a rope that hung over the ship's side,
pulled myself on deck, took a breakfast cup off" a hook in
the steward's pantry, tilled it at the claret tap in the Tahiti
hogshead, and in response to jocose enquiries after my
general health, I replied that I should not care to do it all
again under five pounds. I slept soundly, away from
mosquitos and land crabs tliat night, but it was a long time
before Irwin and others were healed of their blisters.
Next morning, our boats went ashore and came off" to us
again, laden with the piled up spoils of the island, in pigs
and pumpkins, which were bartered cheap in that market,
where they seldom get any customers.
A Marouesan Maiuen,
ox A CORAL ISLE. 417
The whole afiair made such an impression on me, that
when, later in the year, and on the return voyage from
California, we sighted the beautiful natural paradise of
Norfolk Island, a flowery open park, with pine covered hills,
and where, as a great favour — for it was in the days of
Price (afterwards of Pentridge) and the convicted of all the
convicts — we, being bound to Launceston and offering to
carry letters thither, were actually invited to come ashore,,
when all other ships were warned off the island prison witli
its garrison of soldiers — then I felt inclined to resist the
temptation to view its beauties, and its forests, and its diip-
stone rocks more closely, and to remember a vow I had
made a few months before, about licensed watermen's boats,
and duly constituted wharves, and quays, fit for Christians
to land on, and to content myself with a glance at the
monkey-like eagerness of the longing mute appealing look,
which the prisoner crew of the shore boat, which brought
Mr. Price on board our ship, cast up at our sailors along
the bulwarks, for the convict's one solace, tobacco — a look
which our Tasmanian tars well interpreted ; and while Price
drank a glass of wine, to keep ofl' the sea sickness, in our
cabin, they threw tigs of Barrett's twist into the huge surf
boat rocking alongside, which treasures were caught by the
Norfolk Island crew, as starving tigers might catch legs of
mutton, and were swiftly hidden away in the Itlue serge I'e-
cesses of their shirts, by these scarce human faced wearers
of leather caps. Poor creatures ! / was no smoker, and I
reflected how they might have looked long at me before I
should have divined what they wanted, and so earnestly-
asked for, in that indescribable monkey-like look and
working of the facial muscles. On the whole I concluded
not to land on Norfolk Island, though the rest of us in the
" Harriet Rockwell " did ; but 1 bought a dripstone, and
some birds, and paid for them with a little of the gold dust,
2b
41 S AUSTRALIAN PIONEERS AND REMINISCENCES.
of which, with doubloons, I 1 nought nearly twenty pounds
weight baclv from the North Pacific, in barter for the
Ilobart Town " notions," named at the commencement of
this true story, which I must now bring to a close with a
hope that all readers who may at times, find themselves, like
me, " in a tight place," will get the same deliverance that I
did.
At any rate, I can recommend the dietary scale of Caroline
Island, on the side where we. landed, as a sovereign specific
for plethoric or gouty subjects, whose only complaint is, too
much to eat.
3^M^^^S^
INDEX.
■iri. PAGE
Adsett, Moses 209
Agars, 'riionias .">
Allwoocl, Rev. R 2
Appel, George 211
Aniiitage J. T 2
Atkins, J. B 180
Australian Club 8
" Australia Felix " 32
Australia in 1842 1
Aiistralian Newspapers 13
Australia, Proper names of ... 349
B
Bank of N.S.W. ... 12, 53, o,
Bank of Australia
Banks and Banking (Sydney)
Banking Statistics
Bank in Brisbane, First
Barker, Thomas
Barton, William
Bartley, N
■Baynes, Joseph
Beard, Elizabeth
Beck and Brown
101, 171, 176, 177, 181
Bell, Sir Joshua P. ... 171, 181
Berry, Alex, (biography)
Bigge, Frederick ...
Bingham, Reus
Biographies, Sydney
Blood for Blood ...
Blythe, J. A
Bourne, R
Bowler, Chas. E. ...
Bowen to Thompson, From
12
66
5,57
12
55
57
205
16
18
256
211
54
-187
,216
156
, 216
175
165
206
173
3,13
171
197
¥.>
Bousfield, Pilot
Bowen, Sir George..
Bracker, Fred
Bramston, J
Brisljane
Brisljane, Early Survey of
Brooks, Tom
Brooks, Williani
Brown, W. A
Broadhurst, E.
Broughton, Mrs. (Dr.)
Burne, F. N
Burnett Pioneer, A
Bullock Drivers, About
c
Cadell, Capt
Campbell, R. & Co.
Campbell, John
Camperdown, Old ...
Cannan, Dr. K.
Cape, Fred
Caste Superiority . . .
Chambers, Capt.
Chad wick's Station
Chauvel, Major
Chess at Victoria Club
Child, \V. Knox
Christie, Major
Clarence, Early Settlers
Clyres, Paddy
Cook, Capt
Cohen, J. G
Coley, Capt. R. J. ...
Collins, J. R
10
211
256
171
256
240
243
211
211
256
. 57
10
23
205
338
31
3
167
7
256
27
17
2
25
173
27
5
57
40
177
166
;i8, 57
205
211
420
INDEX.
PAGE
.. 211
17, 18
.. 171
.. 3
.. 148
.. 3
.. 148
Compigne, A. W
Convict System, The ...
Condamiue, Settlers on...
Cooper and Holl
Cowper, Clias. (biography)
Coveny, R. and T. ..
Cox, William (biography)
Coxen, Chas 169, 172, 175
Coxen, H. VV 175,211
Crisis of 1893 61
Cribb, R 212, 232
Criminals, Blackfellow 335
Crisis of 1866, The 257
Crowther, John ... 171, 173, 176
Cunningham, Allan 107
Cricket 351
D
Dacre, Ranalph 2
Daisy, M 171
Dangar, Henry (biography) ... 150
Darling Point 15
Darling Downs, Pioneers of... 168
Davie, C. F 263
Dean, W. & Co 4
Dennis, Henry 168
Denchar, John 171
Dick, Alec 27
Dinners at Tooths' 17
Dobie, Discoveries of Dr. ... 41
Dockrill, W 182
Domain, The 14
Donaldson, Stuart 15
Doughis, Robert ... 212, 223, 256
Dowse, Tom 263
Dowling, Judge 13
Dulacca Country 173
Droughts 274
Drought of 1866 183
Dye, Tihnouth^J 17
E PAGE
Egan, Dan 27
Eldridge, Ambrose 3
Elsworth, E. 8 256
Emma, The Brig 2
Ewar, J. G 172
Expedition, A Run Hunting... 189
Ferritter, John 172, 211
Fitzgerald, Bob 57
Flemniing, Joseph 173
Flinders 166, 275
Floods in the Brisbane 270
Foss and Lloyd 5
Forster, W. (biography) ... 70
Forbes, Sir Francis (biography) 121
Forbes, F. A 181
Fox, H. P 229
Frith and Pay ten 4
G
Gammie, John
171, 185
"Gazette," Sydney
... 13
Gill, R
... 211
CJlennie, Canon
.. 211
Gilchrist, John
... 16
Goggs, Matthew
. .. 171
Gold Discovery (N.S.W.
) ... 60
Gordon, W. P
. ... 175
Gorman, Major
. ... -201
Gorry, C
. ... 211
Gray, Walter
. 3, 179
Haly, C. R. and W. D. G. 54, 211
Harrison, Capt. George ... 16
Handcock, W 181
Hardgrave, John 211
Harris, George 212,230
Harvey, Capt. W. W 10
Hay, Sir John (biography) ... 133
Hebblewhite, George 5
Hely, Hovenden 57
INDEX.
421
PAGE
Herbert, R. G. W 256
Hodgson, A 168, 211
Hodgson, Cecil 168
Hobbs, Dr 205, 263
Holt, W. Harvey 205
Hook, James 176
Hovell, W. H. (biography) ... 133
Howe, Sir J. E 9
Hughes, H 168, 171
Hunt, R. A 57
Hunter River Coy 2
Hunter River 8. N. (yoy. ... 17
Inflation, First Australian ... 1
Iredale, Launcelot 54
Isaac, F 1(58, 171
Islands, The 278-302
Jackson, J. W 256
Jenkins, R. L. (l)iography) ... 144
Johnston, Capt. Robt. (Inogra-
phy 102
Jolly, \Y '27
Jones, David ... ... ... 3
), ,, (biography) ... 155
Jones, Richard 12, 57
Jordan, Henry 233
Jovial Evenings 244
K
Kemp and Fairfax
7
Kendall, Henry,
iNIeuio
ial
Lines to ...
. 305
Kent Brewery...
17, 20
Kingsford, R. A.
... 211
King and Sil)ley
.. 168
Kite, Tom
... 54
Knowles, A. L.
... 205
KnuU, E
38, 57
PAGE
178
22-32
231
13
136
181
, 185
2
4
211
4
27
167
202
169
201
172
211
211
256
214
256
213
224
346
Labour, Dearth of
Lachlan, Pioneers on the
Lade, Thomas
Laidley, James
Lang, Dr. (biography) ...
Lang, Gideon 177,
Law Courts, Sydney, 184t
Leckie, John
Legislative Council, 1842
I-ee, Ted
Leslie, Patrick
Leslies, The
Leslie, Walter
Lester, L. E
Lilley, Sir Chas
Little, John
Little, Robert
Limestone Old
Lord, Simeon
Love, On
Lyons, Samuel 5
M
IMacadam, George 170
Mackay, Discovery of 322
Mackay, Capt. John 322
Mackay, Old 328
Mackenzie, R. R. 13, 15, 171, 208
Macgregor, S 32,168
Macquaries' Chair 14
Macleays, The 16
JVIcLean, J. D. ... 16, 176, 181
Macquarie, Govr. (biography) 66
Mclnty re, Settlers on 171
McConnell, D. C 202
McDougall, J. F 211, 256
McCabe's Hotel 249
Mallard, Capt 171
Manning, Sir William 16
Mann, Father 57
Mansfield, Rev. Ralph ... 2, 13, 57
Martin, Sir James (biography) 97
422
INDEX.
182
177
PAGE
May, A. A 256
Melbourne, Recollections of 34-39
Melhado, U 27
Merchants, Early Sydney ... 3
Metcalf, J. B 2
Miles, William 1
Millar, John
Ministries, N.S.W. ... 06, 165
Mitchell, Sir T. L. 8, 13, 167, 201
Mitchell, J. S 226
Miracles, On 347
Moffatt, T. dcLacy ... 171, 184
Monitor, The 13
Morehead, R. A. A 54
Moreton Bay in 1840 201
Moray, E 32,212
Mort, Thomas S. ... 13, 15, 54
,, (biography) ... 107
Mort, Henry... 13 (biography) 163
Munce, W. J 230
Murray, Navigation of the .. 29
Murray, SirT. A. (biography) 95
Murray-Prior, T. L. 208, 212, 216
Murrumbidgee, Pioneers on 22-32
Murphy, Peter 169
Myall Creek Settlement ... 171
N
Nelson, i)r 182
New England, Settlement of 41-47
New England, First Settlers 43
Norris, Edwin 221
Ocean Travelling in the Fifties 253
O'Connell, Sir Maurice 8
O'Connell, Capt. Bligh 13
Old Hands of '42, Brisbane ... 211
Oliver, R 211
O'Sullivan, P 211
Overlanding 22
Overlanding Exploits 189
-L PAGE
Palmer, Sir A. H 212
Parramatta, The Old 340
Paterson, James 17
Pettigrew, John 182
Petrie John 210
Petrie, Walter 211
Peterson, Daniel 249
Phelps, J. L 25, 29, 30
Phelan, R. F 227
Picking, W 256
Pike and Preston 3
Pinnock, P 211
Pockley, Capt 2
Pollett and Cardew 211
Pott's Point 16
Prince, Henrj- 16
Prout, Cornelius 5
Purkiss and Lambert 4
Pye and Co., James 3
Q
Queensland, Early Days of ... 166
Queensland 276
Queensland North, Legends of 188
Queensland Club 255
Queensland, Pastoral Occupa-
tion of 166
Queensland, Sugar Industry
of 248
Queensland, Yellowstone of 313
R
Raff, A 211
Raine, Capt. Thomas 10
RaMlins, VV 256
Remedy for Financial Trouble 64
Reeve, H. M 211
Richardson, W 205
Riding, Thorpe 209
Ricliardson & Wrench 4
Robins, George 5
Robertson, R. R. C 54
INDEX.
42:3
Robertson's, Sir John, Act
(biography)
Roberts, D. F
Rogers, Richard
Roley, R. M
Roll-Call, The (Queensland)
Roma, Founding of
Ross, Donald
Run Hunting Expedition
Russell, H. S
Rather, J. Y
PARE
52
128
256
3
57
211
181
182
191
211
54
8ahvey, H 54
Sands, John 3
Sandeman, Gordon 211
Sandgate, Early 262
Scougall, R 168
Scott, John 212
Scott, \V. R 54, 228
Sellheim, P 212
Settlers, Brisbane and Burnett 211
Sexes, The 343
Simmonds, Isaac 2
Smith, John 54
Smith, Shepherd 256
Smith, "Red" 211
Smythes, S. H 16
Sneyd, Constable 244
Southerden, E. B 211
Southerden, \V 211
South Brisbane in 1854 249
Sproule, Capt 2
Stephens, F. B 57
Stephens, T. B 236
Stuart, Capt 32
St. Stephen's Church (Sydney) 8
St. John's ,, ,, 13
St. Phillip's ,. ,, 13
Steam, Brisbane to Sydney ... 244
Sugar Growmg in N.S.W. 47-53
Sugar Industry (Queensland) 248
vSuttor, George (biography) ... 113
Swinnerton, George 54
Sydney in 18.38 15
Sydney Men and Matters
1, 16, 66-165
Sydney, Scenes of Olden 53-66
Sydney Streets and Suburbs 19
Sydney Morning Herald 7, 13
Squatter, The Australian ... 246
Squatter, First on the Bris-
bane 346
T
Tait, John
254
Taylor, James
168
, 1
'1,
176
Tillman, W
211
Thorn, George
212
Thornton, W
256
Thornton, G
27
Thomson, E. Deas
57
(bio-
graphy
77
Thompson A
27
Thompson, Joseph..
3
Threlkeld, L. E. ..
3
Tooth, R. and E. . .
3,
16, 54
Towns, Robt. (biography) ... 105
Traders, Early N.Z. and Islands 2
Trundle, C.J 211
Tucker, William 2
Turner, J. S 211
Turtling on the Barrier Reef 306
Tyson Bros 33
U
Uthar, Reuljcn ... .
. ... 54
Y
Vigers, P. D
VignoUes, Capt
Vowles,.W
. ... 246
. ... 171
. ... 211
424
INDEX.
W^ PAGE
Warner, James 212, 222
Warry, R. S 229
Weather, The 272
Weir, Settlers on the 171
Wentworth, W. C 54
,, ,, (biography) 79
Weinholt, A 211
Western Notable, A 174
White, W. D 259
White, James (biography) ... 153
Winship, Taylor 212, 225
Wight, Rev. G. ..
Wickhani, Capt.
Wilkie, P. J
Wilkin, Robt.
Woolley, T. and M.
y
Yaldvvyn, A. H.
Yarnton, G. S.
Young, W^illiam
PAGE.
26S
16
171
205
a
25S
54
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